Fireteam Warden
by Wolflord82
Summary: A new fireteam is created by the Speaker. It's purpose: to take on those missions that are too much for the regular fireteams to complete. The unorthodox nature of the team however causes some tension among it's members, which is further added to by an initial clash of personalities. The team will have to come together though, in order to survive the missions ahead of them...
1. Prologue - A New Team Assembles

_The speaker calls together a new, unconventional Fireteam for an important mission._

He knew he was just dreaming. Except it wasn't a dream. He wished it was though, that it was just a horrible figment of his imagination. Because if it WAS just a dream then it would mean that it wasn't real. That it had never happened. And that everything else that had followed it was not real either. It would mean that he could call the dream what it really was for him: a nightmare.

But no. He wasn't dreaming. He was not so fortunate enough for that to be the case.

He was remembering.

_The interior of the transport was filled with red lights, flashing on and off like someone was playing with the light switch. There were electrical sparks here and there, along with thick black smoke that choked him every time he tried to take in a breath. The smoke was mostly at the back of the craft, near the engines as well as the rear hatch. An alarm sounded over the interior communication system, a kind of shrill siren that grated on everyone's nerves, which only served to increase the tension in the cramped confines of the ship._

_Along the sides of the main compartment he was in were the rest of his platoon, sat down and locked into their seats by the metallic harnesses that covered them. They were angry, he knew, because he was likewise angry. Each man and woman was – like him – a member of the Lunar Guard. Guardsmen who had sworn to defend the surface of the Moon with their lives from any hostile forces that sort to harm its inhabitants. Guardsmen who – also like him – did not enjoy having to retreat in the face of the enemy._

_Because that was what it felt like: a retreat. Oh yes, the orders they'd gotten made it clear that this was ONLY a temporary situation. That once they got planet side they would be going straight back out as part of a combined relief mission to drive the Hive off the Moon once and for all. He didn't believe that though. None of them really did. The situation on the Moon was BEYOND salvaging. The top brass had known that too, hence the orders to evacuate the civilian personal from the base and escort them back to Earth as fast as possible. That knowledge did not improve his mood however._

_Some of his men were injured, having fought their hardest to buy time for the last of the civilian transports to escape. Others were dead and had been left on the surface of the Moon, their bodies unable to be recovered in the rush to get as many Guardsmen out alive. That was where the lieutenant was right now, lying dead in the cold embrace of the moon's surface. Her death had put him in charge. As Platoon Sergeant it was now his responsibility to get these men and women he had served with for over twenty years back to Earth, as well as to provide cover for the civilian transports that were still in range of the Hive._

_Unfortunately, his ship had taken some damage on the way out. The pilot had just called him up to the flight deck, saying that one of their engines had started to fail. Making his way across the main compartment, he punched the door controls at the side of the door leading towards the front of the craft. The door slid back out of the way and he proceed through the tight corridor towards the door ahead of him, ignoring the other doors to either side that led to the gunnery stations. There was no smoke here, although the alarm could still be heard and the lights continued to flicker red, despite the obvious fact that there was no one here to experience either. Except himself, of course._

_Reaching the door he tapped in the 6-digit code that allowed access to the flight deck. The doors parted down the middle and slid into the hollow alcoves to either side, as if they wanted to get out of his way, knowing what mood he was in. The doors were made of solid titanium, the same material as the hull of the craft. After all, if one of the passengers suddenly flipped out and started shooting, it paid to ensure that the guys flying the transport were not in danger of getting shot._

_The flight deck was also clear of smoke, even clear of the annoying red light show that the rest of the ship was subjected to, most likely because it would be a distraction to the crew. The alarm could be heard, though it was muted to a degree, so that said flight crew could talk to one another without having to resort to shouting to be heard. They were still shouting though._

"_Starboard engine offline, damage to fuel lines extensive. We are bleeding into the void!"_

"_Long-range coms are dead. Backup systems are down."_

"_Life-support systems are at half power."_

_He made his way towards the pilot, who was struggling to keep the ship on course. Out through the forward window he could see Earth getting larger with each passing second. He knew that they were almost there. Just a few minutes more and they would be into the atmosphere. The jump from the Moon had been made hastily, so the exact exit point had not been as close to the planet as would have been ideal._

_Ahead he could make out a trio of objects moving against the back drop of the Earth surface, moving towards it. He knew those three objects where in fact the other transports like the one he was in, each carrying about a hundred civilians plus their crew. The last transport also carried something else as well. Something the meant more to him than his pride as a guardsmen, more than his oath to do his duty and protect the helpless against those who would harm them: his family._

_Something was wrong though. The transports were getting further away from them. He realised that his transport was not keeping up with the others, most likely due to the damaged engine. He wondered what exactly had caused the damage the engineer had just reported. Before the jump to Earth he had been informed that the damage was minimal and that it should not affect their journey. He called to the pilot manning the helm; a man in his late twenties who's name escaped him. The pilot didn't look round, keeping his eyes on his controls and the star field and planet ahead of him, but acknowledged his presence and started reporting the situation to him. It was not good._

"_Sergeant, we have a pair of Hive ships out there hunting us. They just appeared on our scanners coming in from off the starboard side. They hit our starboard engine and our antenna array during that first pass."_

_He registered this information as a cold sensation started to come over him. With the antenna gone it would be impossible to warn the other ships of the danger, plus the damaged engine would prevent them from staying in formation. A thought stuck him._

"_Can we increase power to the other engine to keep up our speed and stay with the rest of the transports?"_

_The pilot shook his head._

"_Not enough power, sir. Besides, doing so will overload the remaining engine to the point it might explode or give out completely, stranding us out here. Even if I used the manoeuvring thrusters, we would still be left –"_

_A yell from the sensor operator cut him off in mid-sentence._

"_I've lost long-range and short-range scanners, sir! I don't have a fix on where the hostiles are!"_

_A moment later the coms officer cut in, her voice laced with dread._

"_Portside Gunnery crew reports the hostiles are coming around for another strafing run."_

_The pilot immediately responded, talking as he began to bring the ship around to avoid the expected incoming weapons fire._

"_Initiating evasive manoeuvres!"_

"_Oh God!" cried the coms officer, the horror flooding her voice. "It's not us they're targeting!"_

_He looked back towards the fleeing transports, knowing what he was about to see, but hoping against hope that he wouldn't. As he watched, bolts of bright light lanced out of the dark off to the side, striking first the leading transport squarely in the side, then the second the same way. Both ships exploded, the plumes of fire stretching out in all directions. A shock wave rode out ahead of the each blast, the one from the second ship knocking into the last remaining transport – the transport with his wife and children aboard. Before he had time to think, two blurred shapes swept past the window, heading off towards the direction they had initially come from._

_He knew that the Hive ships were most likely circling around for a third strafing run, and that this time the only targets they would have was his own ship and the one carrying his family, along with over a hundred other souls who did not deserve to die. There was only one option left._

"_Get the gunnery crews on the starboard side to open fire! Even if those bastards are out of range they may decide to deal with us first before finishing off the last transport. That might buy them enough time to get out of range. Do it!" he yelled._

_The coms officer relayed his orders to the men manning the guns and a moment later he felt rather than heard the defence turrets opening up. From his position he could not see if the hostiles were taking the bait or not, but a moment later the coms officer spoke again, this time with a finality in her voice that spoke as loudly as the words she said._

"_Gun crews report the hostiles are splitting up. One is coming straight for us, whilst the other-"_

_She never finished the sentence. There was a deafening blast as the ship bucked to one side, throwing him into the console next to the navigator. Pain erupted as his head struck the low ceiling above, causing him to fall to the deck. He felt blood begin to run down the side of his face, confirmed a moment later as some of it ran into his eye._

_Struggling against what must have been a concussion, he gripped the console and pulled himself up by it just in time to hear the pilot curse. As he looked up towards the forward window, he saw another bolt of light slice into the aft section of the remaining civilian transport, cutting its engines away from the ship's hull. The rest of the ship began to tumble, caught in the gravity well of the planet who's atmosphere it had just entered. With mounting horror, he watched as secondary explosions erupted from the stricken craft, knowing the signs of an explosive decompression when he saw it._

"_No!"_

_He did not know if it was him who cried out, or maybe the pilot. Possibly one of the flight crew. All he did know was that in that moment, his family was dead. Weather they had died directly from the impact of the Hive ship's weapons, suffocated by the loss of air or just been blown out into space he would never know. But there was no doubt in his mind that they were gone, along with the other civilians on board, and that there was nothing he could do about it._

_Even as the full horror of the loss – both the loss of so many lives as well as his own personal loss – hit him, the flight deck exploded all around him. He was once again thrown off his feet, this time so hard that his head dented the point of the wall it hit. As he began to lose consciousness, the last thing he heard was the pilot screaming about Earth's gravity…_

With a start, Valen awoke. His eyes snapped open as he sat bolt upright in his bed, hitting his forehead on the underside of the bed positioned above him. He winced, both at the pain in his head and the even greater pain in his heart. Not for the first time he cursed the fact that although he was no longer a Lunar Guardsman, he still had to sleep in a bunk bed in a room shared by at least one other person. He lowered himself back down onto the bed, holding the framework of the bunk bed with one hand whilst he held his forehead with the other. He closed his eyes for a moment, reflecting on the memory of his death and the death of his family.

He had had the same nightmare at least once a week to begin with for the first few years after his Ghost had revived him. These days however, it only came to him when he was feeling considerably depressed or anxious about something, or from when he had just come back from a particularly hard or harrowing mission. Of course, it wasn't a true nightmare in the sense that it was 'just a bad dream'. It was a memory of what had actually happened, although it was a memory that sometimes he wished he did not have.

Not for the first time he wished that he had lost his memory of his previous life before becoming a Guardian, just like the all Exos had. Of course, he then reminded himself that if that was the case, then he would never have remembered his beautiful wife and children, and that was something that he could not live without. Although they were all centuries dead he still loved each of them deeply, which was why the memory of his death had truly haunted him for the last 12 years. It wasn't his own death that pained him; it was theirs.

Opening his eyes again, he glanced at the mirror across the room from him. He first saw himself; white skin and clean shaven, light brown hair, shaved into a buzz cut, as per standard regulations in the Lunar Guard. He may not be a guardsman anymore, but there were some things you never changed. His dark brown eyes focused for a moment on their own reflection, before they shifted to the scar across his left cheek. It was roughly two inches long, slightly on a slant from left to right, the result of a bar fight he had tried to break up one night whilst on leave. One of his guardsmen had tried to come to the aid of a woman being roughed up by the local gang, and he'd gotten involved before one of the punks had pulled a knife and blindsided him.

His gaze then swept to his bed in the mirror, before rising to the bunk bed above him. It was empty. Karn – his roommate, must be out checking up on his Jumpship. It had recently caught some weapons fire during a forced extraction from a mission he was on, and Amanda Holliday has informed him that until the damage was fixed he would not be flying it any time soon. The damage had been to the thruster assembly, which Karn had repeatedly told Valen had made the flight back to the Tower difficult. Karn had been a Guardian longer than him, nearly 24 years in fact. It just went to show you that that even veteran Guardians could be caught out sometimes.

He glanced at the chrono display on the wall and saw that it was approaching five in the morning. Deciding to avoid going back to sleep, Valen got out of bed, taking care this time to avoid braining himself on anything. After a quick wash he dressed himself, then adorned his Titan armour, once piece at a time. Each part was coloured an even mix of red and white, with only his Titan Badge – the section of cloth adorning his right hip – being coloured differently. The cloth displayed the insignia of his old unit back when he had served in the Lunar Guard; a howling red wolf, picked out in gold against a silver full moon. A large gold star was positioned above the wolf and moon, bracketed by a pair of smaller silver stars. A jet black backdrop completed the crest of his old Platoon; the 161st of the Lunar Guard – The Crimson Wolves.

Leaving his head bare for now, he carried his helmet under his arm as he left his room. Making his way towards the Tower Plaza, he summoned up his Ghost. The little A.I. appeared in front of him, hovering just above eye-level.

"Sparky, link with Amanda Holliday's computer and find out if my Cavalier is fixed yet."

"At once, Guardian." The A.I.'s blue eye flashed for a moment, then steadied. "The records indicate that your S-20 Cavalier was fixed 2.5 hours ago. There is also an attached message from the Shipwright to the repair file. The notation states that in the future, the owner of this particular Sparrow "should think it over a dam lot more before he decides to jump his machine over a Fallen Devil Walker, especially whilst its weapons are still active."

Valen smiled as his Ghost read out the message. It hadn't been his intention to jump the Devil Walker; it had just happened. The walker had been inside a depression at the time and he had been going at speed to avoid getting shot by the other Fallen. He hadn't even seen the thing until he was cresting the edge of the depression, and by then it was too late to change course. Gunning the thrusters, he had jumped over the walker to avoid crashing right into it.

Unfortunately, a stay shot from one of the Devil Walker's secondary cannons had hit the undercarriage of his machine as it sailed over it, causing damage to the brake system as well as the thrusters themselves. The damage had required Amanda to strip down half of the vehicle, and because of her schedule had taken the better part of 8 days to fix. Of course she had other jobs that she had also been doing at the same time, but even so the damage had been extensive and needed whole sections of the undercarriage to be replaced. He had relied on his old Shrike in the interim, which was still useable after all these years, but in truth he missed the extra speed and endurance his Cavalier possessed. It would be good to get it back.

"Understood, Sparky. Please send a message to Ms Holliday expressing my gratitude, as well as stating that I'll try to be more careful in the future, especially when trying to avoid getting shot to pieces by the Fallen."

The A.I. acknowledged the command and promptly disappeared. Valen had taken to calling his little companion Sparky after their first official mission together. During the mission, the Ghost had provided Valen with a wealth of information, as well as insights into how the Fallen operated, leading Valen to comment that the Ghost was 'quite the bright spark' when it came down to it. The Ghost had accepted the comment with enthusiasm, and the name was struck.

Entering the main Plaza of the Tower, Valen walked over to where the postmaster robot was stationed. As he approached it, Kadi 55-30 noticed him and called out to him.

"Guardian Valen, Commander Zavala has sent word for you to go see him at the earliest opportunity. I understand from the message that it has to do with a summons from the Speaker."

Valen raised an eyebrow at this. Commander Zavala was the Vanguard of all the Guardians in the Tower who belonged to the Titan class. He had spoken to the Commander every so often over the years but had never been summoned like this, and not in connection with the Speaker.

"Message received, postmaster. Is there anything else for me whilst I am here?"

"Only a copy of a message from Amanda Holliday, stating that the repairs to your S-20 Cavalier are complete and that you can pick it up at your convenience," stated the robot. It went back to work as Valen headed off towards the Hall of Guardians.

Valen entered the Hall of Guardians and spotted the Commander straight away. It was hard to overlook Commander Zavala, standing where he was at the head of the main table in the centre of the room. Clad in his bright white Titan armour, Zavala stood out from amongst the other people in the room, save for the other two Vanguards who were also stood at the table, on either side. Ikora Rey – the Vanguard for the Tower's Warlocks, was busying herself with a data-slate, lost in thought. Cayde-6 – the Vanguard for the Hunters, was currently talking to another Hunter – a human male dressed in rich gold armour, trimmed in white. A golden cloak was fastened across his shoulders, whilst a red helmet rested on the table next to him. His back was to Valen, but he could tell from the Hunter's bare neck that he had tanned brown skin, along with a short crop of rust-red hair on top.

As Valen passed the Vanguard and the Guardian, he caught a snatch of their conversation. The Vanguard of the Hunters was explaining something to the redheaded man in an animated fashion.

"It is not your place to question these orders, Jonas. The speaker himself requested you for this assignment. He feels that out of all the Hunters currently stationed at the Tower, you are the best match for what he has in mind."

"But you know that I hunt alone most of the time, Cayde. And when I do not, I only work with one other Guardian." The Hunter was obviously not happy with whatever his orders were. "Besides, what the Speaker is describing goes against the established code of practice, not just for the Hunters, but for all Guardians! It's against protocol!"

It was clear that the Vanguard was losing his patience with the Guardian he had called Jonas. His frown deepened as his voice took on a more authoritative tone when he next spoke.

"The Speaker speaks for the Traveler, until such time as when the Traveler is once more capable of speaking for itself. It is for him to decide what is or is not against our code of practice! It is not up to you! You will answer his summons Jonas, otherwise -"

Valen missed the rest of the conversation as he past them by, glancing quickly at the guardian in order to catch a glimpse of his face. If this Hunter was willing to argue over a summons from the Speaker, then Valen felt it would be wise to steer clear of him, least he prove just as stubborn in combat.

The Hunter's face was indeed - as he had expected from the flash of skin he had already seen around the neck – tanned brown from years of exposure from the sun. Like a lot of Hunters, this Jonas appeared to spend a great deal of time out in the wastelands, surviving off the land. Whilst it marked him as experienced, Valen knew that there were some who considered Hunters to be dangerous, due their habit of interpreting the rules as they see fit to suit their own methods. Valen had worked with Hunters before in the past however, and knew that they were not all like that, just some.

The Hunter's eyes were dark blue in colour. His face seemed long overall, as if it had been stretched. His nose was small but tall, and his chin protruded out a little. Upon said chin was a sole patch of hair the same shade of red as the hair upon his head. There were no scars on the man's face, though it had a slightly weathered look about it. As their eyes met, Valen saw a streak of defiance in those two blue orbs. "_Pleasant fellow,"_ thought Valen, with not a small amount of sarcasm.

The Hunter returned his gaze to Cayde-6 as Valen approached Commander Zavala. Alongside Zavala was another Titan that Valen had not initially noticed, as the other Vanguard and Guardian had been in his line of sight. It was Loken-12, a Titan that Valen had fought alongside many times in the past. Along it was true that the Exo had four more years' experience as a Guardian than he himself did, Loken-12 tended to defer to Valen whenever their worked together, letting him take the lead due to Valen's prior experience leading men into battle.

Like Jonas, Loken-12 had his back towards Valen. Even so, Valen recognised him straight away. Although his blue and grey armour was hardly rare, it was his head that gave him away. Its surface – what would be called skin if he was a biological life form – was a dark gold, with a pair of crimson-red fins reaching up from where his audio receptors – his ears – were positioned. As Commander Zavala noticed Valen's approach he nodded in his direction, causing Loken-12 to turn towards him, allowing him to taken in the Exo's appearance.

The first feature that always caught Valen's attention was his strong blue eyes. Despite their colour, there was always a kind of warmth to them whenever the two met, demonstrating the fact that Loken-12 regarded his fellow Titan as a friend. Valen had found that his gaze would then always rise slightly to the markings on the Exo's forehead. Three thick stripes stretched down the top half of his face, each one a dark, crimson-red that matched the colour of the fins either side of his head.

"Guardian Valen," spoke Commander Zavala. "Thank you for responding so promptly to my message. I had been informed that you were asleep when it was sent." Zavala gestured for him to join them, which Valen did, taking up a position next to Loken-12.

"Not a problem, Vanguard. It was a fitful sleep that I'm glad to be awake from. The usual echoes from the past." He knew that Zavala would understand what he meant. Over the years Valen had learned that he was far from the only Guardian to be plagued by memories of their own death. Those Guardians whose deaths had been particularly traumatic tended to be the ones most effected, and he had confided in Zavala once about 6 years ago about how he had witnessed his families' deaths, just prior to his own. Zavala had never reviled the details of his own death to Valen, but he had confided that he too was sometimes troubled by it.

He turned to Loken-12. "Good to see you again Loken. How are you doing these days?"

The Titan shifted a little and Valen could swear he saw the trace of a smirk on his friend's lips.

"Good to see you too, Valen. I am doing well, as always. I hear though that you have recently restarted the old fashioned sport of stunt driving out in the wastelands of Russia. Something about jumping over a Devil Walker at full speed whilst riding your Sparrow?"

Valen laughed, realising that Loken-12 had obviously heard about his encounter with the Devil Walker, and how he had avoided hitting it. Commander Zavala's eyebrows rose as he stared at Valen with an expression that seemed to say _you did what?_ Valen felt he should explain what happened before Zavala began to think that one of his Guardians had been off joyriding instead of doing his duty.

"Not intentionally, I assure you. The dam walker was hidden by a depression in the ground and I only just saw it in time to kick in my boosters, using the crest of the depression as a ramp. If I hadn't I would have driven straight into it and crashed." He glanced over at the Commander. "Of course, our local Shipwright is likely to be still cursing my name for all the damage she had to repair to get my Sparrow functioning again."

Zavala seemed to relax a little, evidently reassured by Valen's words.

"Just so long as you are fully functional now, then I don't see a problem. The Speaker has issued a summons for you both to meet him in his office. It is in regards to a mission he wishes to task you with, but only if you are fit and ready for duty."

Valen felt a moment's unease as he thought about the last thing he had heard Cayde-6 say to the argumentative Hunter. Something about a summons by the Speaker…

He put it from his mind however. The Speaker summoned numerous Guardians throughout the course of a day. He just hoped that the Hunter showed more respect to the Speaker than he did to his own Vanguard.

After speaking with Commander Zavala, Valen headed for the Tower Hanger to check on his Cavalier. He did not doubt for a moment that the Shipwright would have signed off on it if she had any doubts about the repair work she had done. He just needed to double check that it was prepped and loaded onto his ship, as it sounded as if he was going to need it. Loken-12 said that he needed to check something with the Crucible's Quartermaster, and that he would meet him at the centre of the Tower Plaza in 15 minutes. The commander had indicated that it would be best if they arrived together, and Valen and Loken-12 had agreed to do as the commander suggested.

He headed out of the Hall of Guardians and up the steps towards the Plaza, his mind buzzing with questions. Why had the Speaker selected him and Loken-12 for this mission? Would it be just the two of them alone, or was there going to be a third Guardian joining them? As they already had two Titans in the mix, the logical choice for a third Guardian would be either a Warlock or a Hunter.

Most fireteams were made up by someone from all three classes, though he had heard of a few teams that had two from one class and one from another. A team with two Warlocks for example could have one focusing purely on the offensive, whilst the other Warlock heals and boosts the rest of the team. Even rarer still were fireteams comprising three Guardians who were all from the same class. They tended to be sent on specialist missions to backup existing fireteams that were lacking in that class. A team of Hunters for example could provide long range sniper support for a Titan/Warlock team engaging the enemy at close range.

As he walked through the Plaza towards the Hanger, he spotted the Hunter again, this time arguing with Banshee-44, the Gunsmith. He had noticed when he had left Commander Zavala that the Hunter had already left the Hall, though it looked like he had come straight here to complain about something else now that the Vanguard of Hunters had dismissed him. Valen did not get close enough to make out what Jonas was saying to the Gunsmith, but he did see him pointing to a sniper rifle that was on the table – a Trajan-C to be precise, and then started jabbing at Banshee-44, who did not look as if he was enjoying the Hunter's attention.

Valen made a mental note never to work with the man. With an attitude like his, Jonas would be a disruptive element in any fireteam he joined, and Valen for one did not want to have to put up with such a person. There were other Hunters he could work with, those who were less prone to start a fight at the drop of a hat. Clara was a good example. Reliable, skilled with a rifle and was always calm under fire. Nothing ever ruffled her feathers. She kept her head in a fight and did not argue with her team mates, not when doing so could potentially jeopardise the mission.

He put thoughts of Jonas from his mind as he entered the Tower Hanger, heading straight for Amanda Holliday. She was sat on a stack of crates like they were her own personal throne, reading a data-slate before she looked up. As Valen walked up to her he knew from the expression on her face what the Shipwright's first comments would be.

"So, how long is it going to take before you wreck this thing again, Guardian? If you let me know now, I can fix it into my schedule for later."

She said it without a hint of humour at all, and Valen could understand why. Over the last 7 days he had been getting increasingly irate messages from her cursing him for getting the Sparrow shot up so much. She had taken to repeatedly reminding him that every time she had gone to work on 'the wrenched thing' as she called it, she had ended up with her arms buried up to the elbows in its innards, such was how far in the damage had been done. By the end she was far from happy with him.

The following conversation was simply a rehash of the prior one they had had when he brought in the Sparrow over a week ago, plus a repeat of what she had said in her last message. After ensuring that the Cavalier was loaded onto his Jumpship, Valen thanked the Shipwright, which earned him a snort and an earful, then headed back out of the Hanger and towards the Plaza.

He noticed that the Hunter had now left the Gunsmith's store, though he could not see him anywhere. He spotted a few Guardians he knew, including Karn, each of whom he spoke to in passing, only pausing to ask Karn if his Jumpship was fixed yet. Karn shook his head, saying that he expected it to be another two days before the work was complete.

After speaking with Karn, Valen spotted Loken-12 standing over by the Postmaster's kiosk. Heading over to him he called out to him. Loken-12 turned and waved, then walked over to meet him. Together they headed for the Northern part of the Tower, known as Tower North, which contained the Star Map room, as well as the Speaker's office.

As the two made their way towards the Speaker's office they discussed what Commander Zavala had told them. Apparently, there had been numerous reports of trouble to the north of the city of Phoenix, Arizona in North America. Reports indicated that the Fallen were active in the area, holed up inside the remains of a prison complex. Loken-12 was concerned about taking on such a well defendable location.

"Although such places were designed to keep people in, those same measures will make it easy for the Fallen to keep us out. We will need someone to find us a weak point in their defences to gain entry via, otherwise we'll never get past the outer walls."

Valen knew that Loken-12 was right in that regard. They would need a Guardian trained in reconnaissance work to lead them into the prison complex, someone like a Hunter. Valen was starting to become increasingly worried about who had been given the task. There were a number of good Hunters currently at the Tower, and Commander Zavala had indicated that those being sent on this mission were currently here, not in the field. He knew many of them, either having worked with them before or by their reputation. The fact though that the Hunter who'd been arguing with Cayde-6 had been summoned by the Speaker increased the nagging feeling that he might be the one who had been chosen. He decided to voice his suspicions to Loken-12.

"A Hunter, in other words. And I have an unpleasant feeling I know who. That Hunter that was speaking to Cayde-6 when I arrived in the Hall of Guardians. I overheard Cayde tell him that the Speaker had summoned him. I got the impression that the man doesn't like the idea of fighting as part of a team, more of a '_lone-wolf'_ than a team player. What do you think?"

"It could be the Speaker summoned him for something completely unrelated, but as to whether or not he's a team player, I heard him earlier before you came in, when he dared to raise his voice at Cayde. I understand he DOES work with a partner sometimes, and that he had in fact been planning with another Guardian on heading out today as part of a planned search of the old Cosmodrome in Russia for Golden Age-era tech. This summons puts a damper on those plans, hence his mood."

"It still doesn't give him the right to disrespect his Vanguard though. Zavala would tear our asses a new one if we ever spoke to him in that manner. The Vanguards are the best of the Guardians in their respective classes. They deserve the respect of all Guardians."

Descending down the steps that would take them to the Speaker's office, Valen recalled some of the stories that were still told about the Vanguard and their accomplishments. He would have been deeply honoured if he were ever asked to join any of them during a mission, as would most other Guardians. He knew however that the Vanguard only tended to venture out rarely these days, and always together as a team. They devoted most of their time to their duties at the Tower, which included guiding the other Guardians, as well as handing them assignments to complete. Being a Vanguard carried with it a lot of responsibility. And responsibility was something Valen could well understand.

During most of his twenty-two years in the Lunar Guard, he had served as the platoon sergeant in the Crimson Wolves. It had been his role to advise and support the Lieutenant in charge of the unit. The 161st had been led for the last 4 years by a new lieutenant – fresh from the academy, after their previous CO had retired. Valen had taken on a number of responsibilities normally carried by the platoon commander, at least in the beginning, until she was up to speed. After her death during the evacuation of the Moon, he had been placed in charge and had led the guardsmen under his command in defending the evacuation transports until they were underway.

That was why whenever they worked together, Loken-12 let him take the lead. He had – as Loken-12 stated more than once, _"proven himself to be a capable leader whilst under fire, when it really counts."_

It was good to have comrades who felt they could put their trust in you.

Upon entering the Star Map room they saw the Speaker standing in from of the large projection. In front of him were two Guardians, one of whom was indeed the Hunter called Jonas, just as he had feared. "_Please let him be here about another mission_," Valen thought, then admonished himself. If the Speaker was putting them in the same fireteam then it would be unprofessional to gripe about it, plus the Speaker would only do so if it was necessary. Still, he could not help but think of at least two or three other Hunters he would prefer to work with, Clara included.

The other was an Awoken female, a Warlock judging by her appearance. She currently had her back to him, though Valen felt that he knew this Guardian somehow, despite the fact that he did not recognise the dark purple robes she wore. She had her long black hair tied back in a ponytail, which was the source of the familiarity Valen felt when he saw her.

At the sound of the approaching footsteps of the two Titans, the woman turned her head towards them, just as Valen recognised her. Her name was Sonya, a skilled Guardian he had worked with a couple of times with in the past. She had impressed him both times, demonstrating a calm yet focused attitude towards the mission, which also played well in a fight. She typically focused on the Path of the Voidwalker, but Valen remembered she had just started learning the Path of the Sunsinger when he had last worked with her, some two years ago. That could explain why she had done away with the red armour and robes she had worn at the time.

Being a Titan, Valen knew little about a how a Warlock's abilities worked, save that they gained this power from the Traveler itself. He did know that a Warlock's wargear – just like a Titans or a Hunters – could enhance the Guardian's abilities when worn, so it was possible that she had switched to using some wargear that suited a Sunsinger more than a Voidwalker.

Gesturing towards the Hunter, Loken-12 spoke again.

"Looks like that Hunter may be the one after all."

They joined the other two Guardians in front of the Speaker. Giving a quick nod to Sonya, Valen then addressed the Speaker.

"Speaker. Commander Zavala has informed us that you wished to see us regarding a mission."

The Speaker laced his hands behind his back as he faced Valen.

"That is correct, Guardian. Recently we have received reports from other Guardians that a member of the House of Devils – known as the Devil Prince, Zeksis, has been staging attacks against our efforts to reclaim the technology of the Golden Age that exists in the south-western part of North America. Our reports indicate that this Devil Prince has established himself in one of the former detention facilities that exist there."

The Speaker began to pace back and forth in front of the Guardians.

"The facility was constructed at about half way through the Golden Age, and according to our information was modernised a number of times before the Collapse. Our records are incomplete as to the exact nature of the security systems in place, though we do have a recent blueprint of the layout, as well as a first-hand account."

The Speaker came to a stop in front of Valen.

"From a previous fireteam's efforts we know that most of the prison's anti-aircraft guns are still functional, so deployment will have to take place further away from the target area than normal. The fireteam was able to make it as far as the outer courtyard of the prison before they were overwhelmed by the Fallen."

Valen considered this news. So, a Fireteam of Guardians had been sent in to eliminate this Zeksis, but had not succeeded. Or survived, judging by what the Speaker was saying. A sudden thought struck him as the Speaker's words registered within him, but before he could put voice to his question, Loken-12 spoke up, beating him to the punch.

"Speaker, you said 'a PREVIOUS fireteam's efforts'. That would imply you are planning on sending another Fireteam after this Devil Prince for a second attempt."

The Speaker's head dipped slightly, as though he was weighting the pros and cons of his next words. When he next spoke, Valen could well understand why.

"A fourth attempt, in fact. The first Guardian went in alone, confident that he could sneak in and eliminate the target with a few well-placed shots. After that-."

"Was it a Hunter?" interrupted Jonas, speaking for the first time since Valen had arrived. Valen frowned, feeling it was rude for the man to interrupt the Speaker, even if it was with a worth-while question. After all, Hunters tended to be the stealthiest of Guardians, either picking off their targets at range with a sniper rifle, or getting in close without being seen and ending them with one slice of the blade.

"Indeed," answered the Speaker. "Rojas the Stalker, in fact. I believe you knew him."

Valen saw the shock in Jonas's face at the news. Obviously this Rojas was more than just someone the Hunter knew.

"He was the Hunter that first welcomed me to the Tower after I was revived. He tutored me for months, teaching me the skills needed to be an effective Guardian. We have worked together on and off over the years. He was a close friend. How did he die?"

"We do not know the specifics. Only that he got as far as the outer wall before he was spotted. We think that he was trying to sneak through a hole in the wall that had been left deliberately, setting off either an alarm or a booby trap. Either way, his last transmission was cut off in mid-sentence, then nothing since."

Valen could see that Jonas was struggling with himself. Understandable, really. The man had been a mentor and fellow Guardian to Jonas. From his own personal experience he knew how difficult it was when learning of a friend's death. He himself had not had someone who mentored him when he first became a Guardian. He had just set out on his own, trusting his military training and his Ghost to keep him out of trouble.

The Speaker continued to describe the previous attempts following Rojas's death. Another Guardian, this time a Warlock, had a little more success. He had sought out the prison complex after detecting a signal from Rojas's Ghost, indicating his death. He had not been trying to seek out and kill Zeksis, but had been confronted by the Devil Prince when he had tried to recover Rojas's Ghost, hoping to get whatever data it contained back to the Tower. His battle was witnessed by another Hunter, who was too far away at the time to come to his aid. Witnessing the Warlock's death at the hands of the Devil Prince, the Hunter had returned to the Tower to inform the Speaker.

"It was then that I dispatched a three-man Fireteam to hunt down Zeksis and slay him," the Speaker was saying, as he studied the star field projected into the centre of the room. "The team consisted of a Hunter, a Titan and a Warlock. The Hunter was able to lead the Fireteam into the prison, but was then killed during a subsequent ambush. The Warlock and Titan continued on further into the prison, only to succumb to the heavy resistance that they encountered there. They faced off against large numbers of Fallen who managed to outflank and overrun their position, killing them all with sheer weight of numbers."

At this, the Speaker turned back towards the Guardians. Although the Speaker's face could not show any emotion, Valen felt that the Speaker was nervous as he spoke the next words.

"I believe that the only way to eliminate this Devil Prince is to try a new approach. I am therefore forming a new Fireteam to deal specifically with this threat. A four-man team, comprised of the four of you. A Hunter to guide the team, a pair of Titans to provide the meat of the team's firepower, and a Warlock to augment the Titan's fire power as well as keeping the rest of the team alive. I asked the Vanguard to put forward nominations as to who they thought could get this task done, as well as who they thought would work well together. They each submitted a list to me of who they felt were the best choices."

Loken-12 spoke up.

"And the four of us were on these lists, Speaker?"

The Speaker nodded.

"Your names were near the top of each list. The deciding factor was that each of you has worked with at least one other member in the team, so it is the consensus amongst myself and the Vanguard that the four pf you will function well together as a fireteam."

At this point, Sonya stepped forward and spoke for the first time. Valen had noticed her shifting uneasily when the Speaker had mentioned the requirements for the Warlock in the new team.

"Speaker, I have not progressed along the path of the Sunsinger as much as I had wanted. I fear that my skills as a healer will not be up to the task."

The Speaker glanced over at the Awoken Warlock.

"I have spoken to Ikora Rey. Your Vanguard has stated that although there are Warlocks who have progressed further along the path than you have, that has been at the expense of their training along the path of the Voidwalker. Remember, I said that the Warlock needed for this mission will be there to augment the team's overall strength in terms of attack. They will need your power to overcome the defences Zeksis has in place. Be at peace, Guardian. You are more than skilled enough for the task at hand."

Valen felt that he needed to say something, both about the unusual makeup of the team as well as the fact that Jonas seemed to not be much of a team player, from what he had heard.

"Speaker, would it not be better to send in two fireteams, rather than a single, over-strength one? Fireteams work best with two or three members. A fourth may be too much. Besides, I do not know how the others in the team feel about this, but I am uncomfortable with the ideal of being lead in to battle by someone who is no suitable for leadership and has made no attempt to hide the fact that he prefers to work by himself."

As he said this last comment he glanced over at Jonas, who scowled at him and looked like he had something to say. The Speaker however beat him to it.

"Although two teams would allow for a more powerful strike, it would not be as coordinated. Having two fireteam leaders would cause confusion if they each gave orders that conflicted with one another. It would also be harder for the Guardians involved to enter the prison via stealth, as a larger party would be more noticeable. Four is a good balance between the firepower that will be needed to eliminate the target, and the need for speed and stealth that will get you to the target. As to your second concern, I never said that the fireteam would be led by the Hunter, only guided by it."

Valen suddenly felt the eyes of every Guardian present resting on him. Both Loken-12 and Sonya were smiling, whilst Jonas was clearly aware of something the others had also figured out, but did not like at all.

"If Jonas is not to lead this new team, Speaker," Valen said, already guessing at the answer to the question he was about to pose, "then who is?"

The Speaker took a step towards Valen, placing his hand on Valen's shoulder and looked him square in the face.

"You are, Guardian."


	2. Mission 1-1 - A Rocky Start To Things

_The team makes their way towards their target, but division threatens all._

The crosshairs hovered over the target's head, settling on a point between the Fallen's eyes. The desire to pull the trigger filled him all over, willing him to take the shot. At this distance it would take just under a second for the bullet to emerge from the long rifle's barrel, travel the distance of about 800 metres, bore into the helmet of the creature and then through its skull before coming out the other side. An easy kill, he mused. The problem was, the target was not alone.

Jonas watched as the Vandal he had been aiming at signalled the accompanying Dregs. It brought one of its four arms up and pointed ahead and to its right. The second half of the Fallen patrol peeled off and headed in the direction the leader had indicated. The direction took the second half of the patrol further away from Jonas's position, where they flanked the wrecked vehicles they were moving through along the highway. The first half – including the Vandal – proceeded to flank the vehicles from the other side, moving along in formation with the second half.

Jonas was situated beneath the wreck of some large, multi-wheeled cargo transporter that had come to rest on a side road that linked up with the main highway, about 2000 metres further down the road. He was lying prone underneath it, watching the Fallen patrol as they made their way along the highway, most likely seeking targets of their own to kill. Either that, or they were scavenging for any usable technology that had survived the destruction. As he watched, the Vandal cleared the bulky remains of a fuel transporter, the large, fat cylinder that stretched along it's back blown open, its insides exposed to the elements. The vehicle's cab appeared to have been mostly destroyed in the blast, leaving only a blacked and rusted skeleton of the once proud behemoth. Even with the damage it still towered above the vehicles around it; even the cargo transporter Jonas was currently hiding underneath would only come up to half its height.

"Just one shot," he mused. If only he could take just one shot. He would be ridding the world of one more stinking servant of the Darkness, one more monster that did not deserve to draw breath on Earth. Unfortunately, he had his orders. Valen had been quite clear.

"_Advance, observe, report back. Do not engage."_

Technically, the dam Titan was correct. Engaging the enemy this far from the target would alert the Fallen, giving Zeksis the Devil Prince enough time not only to fortify his position, but also to send out an attack force to intercept them. As the main highway they were planning to follow led straight to the prison complex and nowhere else, it would not take many brains cells for the enemy to figure out where the Guardians were headed.

The fireteam had set out earlier that morning, about two hours after the briefing by the Speaker was complete. Jonas still seethed with anger at the words that Valen had used once the Speaker had told them what he intended for them. Oh, he agreed with the first point the Titan had made. It WAS against protocol for a fireteam to have more than three members. As the Titan himself had put it, _"would it not be better to send in two fireteams, rather than a single, over-strength one? Fireteams work best with two or three members. A fourth may be too much."_ Jonas had been ready to back him up on that point, to throw his support behind what was clearly an error.

Guardians followed a code of practice, one that was set out to ensure everything functioned as it should. Whilst it was true that Hunters like himself had a reputation for bending the rules from time to time, Jonas was not one of them. His friend and mentor Rojas had drilled into him that the rules existed for a reason. They were there to benefit the Guardians and ensure that they came back to the Tower in one piece. For the Speaker himself to break the rules was unthinkable to Jonas, and yet he had done just that.

But it was the second point that the Titan had made that stopped Jonas from speaking out in favour of questioning the legitimacy of these orders. The Titan had called into question Jonas's skills, insinuating that he was not worthy enough to lead a fireteam. Valen's words still echoed through his mind, even as he watched the Vandal kick aside a piece of wreckage in its way. _"I am uncomfortable with the ideal of being lead in to battle by someone who is no suitable for leadership"_.

That had made Jonas's blood boil. Not suited, was he? The Titan was talking out of his backside and he didn't even know it! Every time he and Sonya had partnered up on a mission, Jonas had always taken the lead. As a Hunter it made sense that he be at the front, steering others towards the objective. Sonya had often deferred to him in such matters, due to his greater experience out in the wilderness. She knew that he was more in tune with the physical world they moved through, just as he knew that she was more in tune with the mystical world they moved through. He was the Hunter, she was the Warlock. Although he had worked with a few Titans in the past, they had always deferred to his leadership.

So, why not this Titan?

According to the Speaker, it was because Valen had always lead from the front, even before his death and 'rebirth', as Jonas thought of it. He had apparently been a soldier on the moon during the final days of mankind's occupation of the lunar surface. Apparently, his commanding officer had died and he had taken over his unit and led them in the final hours before they ran back to Earth, with the Hive in hot pursuit. Some leadership! To cut and run like that, just as he was now expected to do?

Jonas sighted down his sniper rifle's scope again, bringing the crosshairs back over the Vandal's forehead. It had moved in amongst the wreckage now, pausing to wait as the second part of the patrol – a total of three Dregs, caught up. They had detoured around a wrecked bus that had tried to pull away from the highway just as the blast wave had hit, leaving it stuck out at an angle from the rest of the wrecks, like a splinter of wood jutting out from piece of timber.

The Vandal and its two Dregs were currently holding position, waiting for them. The remains of a wrecked car and its open door were between him and the target. The shot would be a difficult one, passing through the wrecked interior first, then through the open door – which was at a different angle to the rest of the vehicle, before hitting the creature's head. A difficult shot, but not impossible…

Jonas stilled himself for the shot. He steadied his aim, gauging the distance and cross wind automatically. He slowed his breathing, calming his mind whilst focusing on the target before him. The filthy pirate had currently no idea that its life hung in the balance; that it lay in Jonas's hands, in his finger. He took in a breath and held it. Just one deft pull of the trigger…

"Jonas, report."

The crackle of his com system cut into his serenity, robbing him of the stillness needed for such a shot. He cursed the dam Titan for spoiling his aim, then growled as he watched the Vandal move out of his field of fire, behind another wrecked vehicle much larger than the car. The moment for the kill had come and gone. The chance lost. He hated letting the enemy get away. The Fallen were in his mind the worst of them. He had seen what they were capable of, 4 years ago.

He had encountered a group of humans stranded away from the city, out in the wastelands. They were the survivors of an expedition that had been sent out to a supposedly safe area to scavenge what was left there, only to have their transport shot down. Nine men and women had managed to climb out of the wreckage and get to cover before the Fallen had descended upon it, killing the weak and wounded who could not get clear quickly enough. The survivors had hauled up in a nearby collection of structures, waiting for rescue, not realising that the city had written them all off. They had waited there, hiding from the Fallen and had managed to survive for 16 months before he had stumbled across them by accident. By then they were in a poor state, having not managed to find enough food to keep going at full strength. They had managed to scavenge the nearby buildings for food, and when that ran out, they had resorted to hunting down some of the local wildlife, a quest in itself, considering how dangerous they were.

He found them close to starvation from lack of enough food and had immediately given them all the ration packs he had on him, hoping to get some strength back into them whilst he went for help. His Ghost had not been about to get a clear signal out to the Tower from where they were, so he had left them behind, assured by the leader of the group that they were safe, that the Fallen had moved on from that area a couple of months ago.

They had been wrong.

He was already on his way back when he heard the first sounds of weapons fire. The weapon's report sounded nothing like the bark of a gun made by human hands, and he had broken into a run to get back to the survivors. By the time he got there most of them were dead. Only two of the humans had ranged weapons, the rest brandishing blades fashioned out of sections of metal they had cut from the machines inside one of the structures. He saw as the last three defenders were cut down by the weapons fire from the Fallen's shock rifles and pistols, none of them carrying one of the survivor's guns.

He managed to kill all of the attackers that day, but not before all but one of the survivors had been killed. The young woman had been injured the day before and had been told to hide when the attack came. She had barely become a woman when she had set out 16 months previously, having only just turned 18 the month before.

She was 19 now and harden to the ways of the world, having lost her mother during the crash, and now her father during the attack. Jonas had brought her back to the city, taking her straight to the Tower to clean her up and tend to her wounds. He felt responsible for her now, and had therefore seen to it that she stayed at the Tower and worked there as a technician in the hanger bays under Amanda Holliday. With resources being rationed in the city, working in the Tower ensured that she would never go hungry again.

Jonas shook himself out of his thoughts in time to hear Valen ordering him again to report. "_Arrogant Titan,"_ Jonas thought. "_I bet he's never had to see the sort of things I've had to see, or endured the things I've endured_." Glancing up at the symbol for the com system on his head up display, he blinked twice to open a channel to the annoying man.

"Fallen patrol up ahead, moving along the highway in the direction of the target zone. I count six hostiles; one Vandal and five Dregs."

The report came through Valen's helmet speakers crystal clear, as did the tone of annoyance that the hunter was apparently making no attempt to hide. Valen's impression of the man had not improved since leaving the Tower. He had seen the looks of contempt the Hunter had shot him just prior to them departing for America, and again after they had deployed. The Hunter had clearly taken his remarks personally, but then Valen guessed he had every right to.

Valen had spoken from the heart, stating what he felt from his observations of Jonas's behaviour to date. The man was not suited to lead the team; he was headstrong and argumentative, unwilling to listen to his superiors. A soldier had to respect the chain of command; Valen knew, if he was ever to prove himself worthy of command. So far the Hunter's attitude towards him only validated his opinion that he had been right to object to him leading the fireteam.

Of course, then he had learned that the Speaker had not meant for Jonas to lead the team, merely act as its guide to the target. Oh, he would prove useful in a firefight afterwards, but only if he was able to work with the other members of the fireteam. If he went off on his own as had a couple of Hunters Valen had previously worked with, then the man was only dead weight in his mind.

He opened the channel again, hoping that the Hunter hadn't already engaged the Fallen patrol. He wouldn't put it past him.

"Hold your position and stay hidden. Do not engage. We'll come to you."

He went to cut the channel, but not before the Hunter responded over an open channel that the other two fireteam members could hear.

"Thanks for the advice. And here I was planning to jump right in and dance about in front of them."

Before he could respond Jonas cut the channel. Valen cursed, wishing that it was Clara who had been chosen for this mission and NOT Jonas. Valen had worked with the Awoken Hunter a number of times in the past 3 years and come to respect her skills as well as her ability to put the mission first. They had never butted heads during a mission, always understanding each other's role in the team perfectly.

Valen turned to Loken-12 and Sonya, who were positioned off to his left as they moved along the uneven terrain. The three were spread out at 10 metre intervals, in order to prevent being all taken out at once in a surprise attack. Both of them acted professionally, Valen mused, observing noise disciple as well as watching for hostile contacts.

"We'd better move up quickly, before he makes a mess of things and starts shooting. I do not want to have to fight Zeksis's forces all the way to the prison."

Sonya stopped and shook her head at him, opening a channel that both he and Loken-12 could hear her on.

"You judge Jonas too harshly, Valen. Despite what you may think of him, he is a capable and experienced Hunter who knows when to fight and went not to. I have worked with him many times in the past, and we work well together, trusting one another. He has never done anything that would make me question his competence as a Guardian, and I have always let him lead from the front not because he is a natural leader, but because of his skills as a scout and his knowledge of the wastelands."

Valen stopped as well. Loken-12 likewise held his position.

"That may be the case when the two of you work together, Sonya," said Valen, "but from what I have seen and heard, both out here and especially in the Tower, Jonas is a stubborn and argumentative Hunter, traits that do not serve well in a fireteam. Plus, his flippant manner just know leads me to believe that he isn't just stubborn, but also reckless."

Sonya was shaking her head again, even before Valen had finished speaking.

"Jonas finds it hard to trust in people, because he has been let down many times in the past. He expects people to follow the rules and not to cheat one another. He is unlike many Hunters in that respect, mainly because of how Rojas trained him. As for your last point, I have come to understand that he uses his 'dry wit' as he calls it as an alternative to insulting someone who he is unhappy with, or who he feels has aggrieved him. Most likely, it was your comments about him to the Speaker that has angered him, comments that I refute strongly."

Valen listened to what Sonya had to say, trying to follow what she was getting at.

"So, he makes jokes instead of arguing? But I saw him argue with both his own Vanguard as well as with the Gunsmith earlier. He certainly wasn't joking then."

Sonya started moving again, talking as she walked.

"Jonas mentioned this to me earlier. He was angry with his Vanguard because Cayde had let it slip that he was to be part of this fireteam. Like I said before, Jonas is a stickler for the rules, and observes the way we Guardians do things. He was unhappy that the Speaker was going against standard practice by creating a four-man fireteam, but he felt he couldn't openly argue with the Speaker in front of others about it, so he chose to vent his frustrations on his Vanguard, a Hunter like himself who understands his point of view."

At this point, the highway came into view as the three of them crested a rise in the terrain. They could see the wrecked vehicles littering the roadway, though it was still too far off to make out the Fallen patrol. Sonya continued to speak.

"As for that business with Banshee, that was the Gunsmith's own fault. Jonas had given him a long-range scope off of his sniper rifle for him to repair, only to have Banshee sell it on to another Guardian once he had fixed it. To top things off, Banshee was stilling trying to get Jonas to pay for the repairs, even though he couldn't then hand the scope back to Jonas. I sometimes wonder about that Exo's memory."

Loken-12 laughed at this, now doubt imagining the conversation Jonas had had with his fellow Exo. "_It would have been interesting to hear how Banshee-44 explained himself,"_ Valen mused. He began to wonder if he had truly misjudged the Hunter, as Sonya was telling him he had. If that was the case, then he owned him an apology.

For now though, they had to focus on the mission.

Jonas still had the Fallen patrol in sight when the rest of the fireteam joined him. He did not need to indicate his position; the team's Ghosts would pinpoint his location and display it on their HUDs. It was approaching mid-day and the Sun beat down from above, causing a heat-haze in the distance. None of the Guardians were bothered by the heat; each one's armour would adapt its own temperature to keep them comfortable. As the Guardians tended to venture all over the world, it paid to have armour that adapted to either the extreme heat of the desert or the extreme cold of the polar icecaps.

"_Not that there is anything worth salvaging there," _Jonas thought as he recalled what he had been told about the icecaps. Although both had been extensively explored before even the Golden Age had fully begun, there had not been a high demand for settlements to be created there. Besides, once the Traveler had arrived, the entire solar system had been opened up to humanity, offering greater opportunities for those who possessed a pioneering spirit. As a result, the few bits of tech that existed at the poles had long ago been scouted and recovered, leaving no reason for the Guardians to return there. Jonas was glad of this fact, he really hated the cold.

His teammates approached his position low on their hunches, keeping themselves from being silhouetted against the horizon line. _"At least the Titan knows how to keep his head down,"_ the Hunter thought as they crawled under the wrecked cargo transporter he lay under. He watched as Valen moved to a position to his left, alongside him. The other Titan - Loken-12, moved up on Jonas's right, whilst Sonya positioned herself on Valen's left.

"There's the patrol," Jonas stated, pointing towards the Fallen. They had paused only the once since Valen's call had distracted him from shooting the Vandal, waiting as one of the slower Dregs at the rear of the group rummaged amongst the detritus inside one vehicle, before moving on. The Vandal had been quite animate in berating its underling for taking so long, so much so that even from this distance – without the team being able to actually hear the Fallen – the creature's displeasure was evident. At one point the Vandal pointed its shock rifle at it and Jonas had thought it was going to shoot the Dreg, before the Fallen leader lowered its weapon and turned away, continuing to proceed down the road.

They had now moved past the closest point their route would take them to where the fireteam now lay, continuing to follow the highway strewn with wreckage. It had been choked with vehicles of all sorts and sizes when the blast wave must have hit. Buses and minivans, along with several ground transports of various descriptions, were scattered amongst the uncountable number of cars and trucks, all laid out in lines like rust-red carcasses in some demented butcher's shop. After a few moments following Jonas's pronouncement, Valen spoke first, no doubt voicing what the entire team was thinking.

"Well, this complicates things. They're going the same way as us, and at a fairly leisurely pace. We could try to get out far enough ahead of them so as not to be spotted, but that means we'd have Fallen at our backs all the way to the prison. Plus once we got there we'd have to ensure that they didn't arrive just as we are making our entry, otherwise we could be spotted."

"We could eliminate the patrol," suggested Loken-12. He hefted his Sahara AR3 auto rifle as if to make a point. "That would certainly eliminate the threat."

"True," said Sonya, "but at the first shot they would likely contact their forces at the prison complex and advise them of our presence."

"Not if they don't see us coming," stated Jonas, drawing his Hunter's Knife. "I could flank them from behind and take them down one at a time."

Valen weighted up this suggestion against the alternatives, then shook his head.

"Took risky. If they spot you before you kill the last one then they will raise the alarm. Besides, there are six of them and –"

"That's the second time you have questioned my skills, Titan," snarled Jonas. "This would not be the first time I have taken down this many enemies silently with just my blade. Do not dismiss me so easily."

Before Valen could call the Hunter out on what sounded like mere boosting on his part, Sonya spoke up.

"What Jonas says is true, Valen. I have seen him wipe out a group of Fallen nearly twice this number, all without any of them realising what was happening until they each had their throats slit. That group included a pair of Vandals using stealth fields who like the others was taken by surprise. Just because you have never done such a thing does not mean others are incapable of doing so."

Valen's eyebrows rose inside his helmet. He had not heard of many Hunters who were THAT good at stealth, besides Cayde-6 that is. He wondered if Sonya was being truthful with the recounting, having learned from what she said earlier that she had worked with Jonas a lot more than him, and would therefore possibly be more loyal to the Hunter.

Still, if the team was going to rely on Jonas's skills in getting them into the prison, then it might be a good idea to see how good he was now. He looked towards Jonas.

"That true?" he asked.

Jonas looked at him for a moment, as if considering his words.

"I would answer, except I don't see why I should have to justify myself to the likes of you. You've already formed your opinion of me and I doubt me simply saying anything different would change your mind."

Valen could read the challenge in those words, noticing how Jonas was trying to manoeuvre him into offering the Hunter a chance to prove him wrong. _"The thing is,"_ thought Valen, _"I DO want him to prove me wrong. If he can pull this off then I'd feel better with him guiding us. So, why not?"_ He thought of the possibility of the Vandal getting a message off if Jonas was spotted before the Hunter could bring it down. _"We could always engage it if it looks like things are about to go wrong,"_ he reasoned. So long as they were close enough to put enough accurate fire onto the patrol if things got out of hand, he felt it was worth the risk.

"So don't say anything," he said, "prove it. The rest of us will move up parallel to the Fallen, ready to engage if necessary. You move up from behind at take them down quietly. Let's see if you can put your credits where your mouth is."

Without waiting for a response, he started to crawl backwards out from under the transporter, signalling Loken-12 and Sonya to follow. Loken-12 complied off the bat, whilst Sonya gave Jonas a quick nod before following suit. As the three started to head down the road they were on, Jonas smiled behind his mask, then started moving forwards down the embankment.

The three Guardians followed the side road until they were about 200 metres from the highway, then positioned themselves into cover to hide from the Fallen. Each used the mass of one of the wrecks to camouflage their presence. Sonya was closest to the highway, ready to employ her powers as a Voidwalker if Jonas was spotted. Not that her intervention would be needed, she had stated. The Warlock had complete faith in the Hunter, it seemed to Valen as he watched the tail end of the patrol for any sign of him. Loken-12 was positioned to his left, crouched down behind a low container that had come off a cargo transport that appeared to have started to leave the road when whatever maelstrom had hit this stretch of roadway.

Valen watched from his crouched position behind a wrecked car, looking through the shattered windows of the doors at the front. The Dreg bringing up the rear of the patrol had caught up with the others by now, the wind carrying a series of grunts and snorts that gave the impression it had not liked be reprimanded. As he watched, it suddenly vanished from his sight. There had been an indication of movement behind the Dreg, but Valen would not have guessed that Jonas had been able to get into position so quickly, and without being spotted.

"_Dam,"_ he mused. _"I didn't realise he was that close yet."_ The Dreg had not made a sound judging from the lack of reaction from the others. The nearest was only about 3 or 4 metres ahead of it, yet the creature continued forward oblivious that it was now technically the rear-guard. A few moments later it too disappeared, a blur of movement and a flash of metal the only clue as to what had happened.

Jonas appeared to be making good time. Less than 15 seconds later a third Dreg was yanked to one side, a golden armoured arm wrapped around its neck. Valen didn't see the killing blow, but a moment later Jonas emerged from the wreck he had hidden in, stalking his next prey. The rest of the patrol was little further ahead than the others, with a few car lengths having separated them from the now-dead Dregs.

There was still no sign that the Vandal or the two remaining Dregs had heard anything. They continued moving on down the road, unaware of the danger creeping up behind them. Valen was starting to revaluate his opinion of the Hunter. It was clear he knew what he was doing, moving from wreck to wreck, using each one for concealment as much as for cover.

He was flanking the next Dreg now, keeping the vehicles between him and the target. For a moment he disappeared from view, then reappeared as he cleared the remains of a minivan he had moved behind. Loken-12 nudged Valen, then pointed just ahead of the patrol.

"He'd better get a move on. He's running out of cover." Valen could see what Loken-12 meant. There was a section of road coming up that was bare of any vehicles. If the patrol managed to reach it before Jonas was done, then he would have to move out of cover to finish them off, exposing himself. Valen looked back towards Jonas, but couldn't see him initially. He caught sight of movement atop a super transporter and gasped.

Somehow, the Hunter had scaled the rusted hulk like a cat up a tree and was now stalking along its roof, watching the Dreg at the rear of the-now three-man patrol. He reached the head of the vehicle and dropped down silently, instantly concealed by the shadow the machine cast. He was only a handful of steps away from the Fallen. His blade was out still, but he had also drawn his hand cannon, a Mos Ganon III that he had personally customised, according to Sonya.

Taking three steps forward, he buried the knife hilt-deep into the back of the Dreg's neck, instantly cutting through its spin, severing it. Withdrawing the Hunter's Knife, Jonas allowed the body to fall to the ground noisily. The sound of the body hitting dirt was enough to alert the last remaining Dreg. It started to turn around, but Jonas was already moving forwards. The blade in his hand went spinning through the air, imbedding itself into the side of the creature's neck. The Dreg staggered back, banging into the door of one of the wrecked cars. Its finger must have tightened on the trigger of its pistol, for a single shot was let off, burying itself into the ground a meter from the Dreg's own feet.

As the Dreg collapsed, the Vandal spun around at the sound of the weapon discharge, but Jonas had already brought his hand cannon up and hand it trained on the Vandal's head. He let off a single shot that covered the distance and swiftly powered into the Vandal's helmet – square between its eyes, in the very spot that Jonas had been aiming at earlier with his sniper rifle. The Vandal's head snapped back from the impact as the round went straight through the pirate's helmet, skull and brain mass. The leader of the Fallen patrol was thrown off its feet, dead before it hit the ground. The entire final part of the attack – from Jonas's blade entering the back of the first Dreg's neck, to the Vandal hitting the ground – had taken less than 3 seconds.

Loken-12 let out a low whistle. Valen just stared. Sonya started moving forwards, evidently intending to link up with Jonas on the road. As she walked she opened up the fireteam's shared frequency and broadcast to the rest of the team, Jonas included.

"I told you he was good."

Valen just shook his head in disbelief. If he hadn't seen it himself he would have had trouble believing it had happened. The entire engagement – if it could be called that – had lasted just over 60 seconds from start to finish. Jonas wasn't just silent, but swift as well. Valen suddenly found himself wishing never to have to face Jonas in a Crucible match.

He did note the fact that Jonas had drawn his gun prior to striking the second-to-last Dreg, which had prevented him from catching the body before it hit the ground. Had he not done so, the last Dreg would have not likely been alerted. As he glanced back at where the Vandal had fallen however, he suddenly realised what the Hunter had done. The Fallen's body was a couple of metres out into the clearing Loken-12 had pointed out earlier, which meant that if Jonas had continued his stealthy advance then the Vandal would have been well into the clearing by the time he'd have got to it.

Valen started walking down towards the highway, ordering Loken-12 to take up an over-watch positon at the head of the kill zone. Loken-12 started moving down towards sight of the Fallen's decimation. Judging from the reaction he gave earlier, Valen could tell the Exo was likewise impressed. He seldom whistled, considering it a pointless gesture to make. He normally preferred words, feeling they were a more suitable fashion of him expressing himself. He had slung his auto rifle onto his shoulder as he approached the first of the wrecks on the highway, studying the dead Vandal on the ground. For his part, Valen made his way towards the Hunter, keeping his own auto rifle in both hands, scanning for any sign that one of the Dregs was still alive.

They weren't, he soon learned, as he came across Jonas retrieving his blade from the last Dreg he had killed. Wiping the blade's sides on the Dreg's corpse, he re-sheathed it, then started rummaging through the Dreg's pockets, as if searching for something. He stood up and looked towards Valen. The Titan could tell Jonas was waiting for him to comment on the less-than-silent deaths of the last three Fallen. Valen was tempted to say something negative, but the truth was that Jonas had made a judgement call and got it right.

"Nice work. I guess the Knife isn't just for show after all." He tried to inject some humour in to his voice, hoping that the praise would be welcomed and help ease the distrust between them. He certainly no longer had any doubts about the Hunter's skills, realising that it really was never his skills he questioned, but his attitude.

For his part, Jonas just stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether Valen was making fun of him or not. Jonas wasn't used to other people using his own brand of humour back at him, so it took a few moments before he decided to give up guessing and just nod, before speaking.

"We should conceal the bodies in case another patrol comes along. It will buy us more time before this patrol is missed. Sonya has already started at the back. We should also check them for anything of value, like a map of the area. The Vandal is the one most likely to have one on him, but he could have just as easily palmed off the duty of carrying and reading it to one of the Dregs."

He began moving the Dreg he been inspecting towards the super transporter he had jumped down from, rolling it between the vehicle's massive tires. Valen walked over to the Vandal, kneeling down and checked the pirate's armour for any pouches or pockets it might have. Loken-12 remained on over-watch nearby, having jumped up onto one of the wrecked cars for a better vantage point.

Sonya meanwhile had been policing the corpses of the first three Dregs Jonas had killed. She had walked back towards the first two Dregs he'd eliminated and started searching their corpses just like Jonas had, before moving them into a wrecked minibus that was directly behind the wreck Jonas had dragged the third Dreg into. Checking the third Dreg, she then walked over towards Jonas. It was clear to Valen that the two of them had done this before.

By the time she joined him, Jonas had checked the last Dreg's body and moved it to join the other under the super transporter. The two Guardians then headed towards Valen and Loken-12, the former of which was still searching the Vandal. He looked up as the approached.

"I haven't found anything, though I'm not in the habit of cleaning the pockets of dead bodies. Any place you know that he may have used to conceal anything?"

"Not really," replied Jonas, surprised that the Titan was willing to ask. "Each of the bastards have their own way of doing things, just like us. I could give him a quick frisk but I doubt you will have missed anything. They aren't big on hiding things about themselves, and he certainly would not have had a reason to hide anything. After all, the bugger wasn't planning to die today, was he?"

Loken-12 laughed at that, whilst Sonya just smiled behind her mask. So did Valen, though he tried to fight it. He stood up, then grabbed the Vandal by its legs and began to drag it under a nearby wreck. After that was done, he summoned up his Ghost.

"Sparky, how far are we from the prison complex?"

As the A.I. replied, Valen thought a caught a chuckle from the Hunter. Evidently, the Guardian either found the name amusing, or the fact that he had given it a name at all.

"The complex is approximately 2.6 miles further down the highway. There are no further roads leading into or off the highway until we reach the desired turnoff."

"Understood," said Valen, dismissing the Ghost. He turned to the rest of his fireteam. Loken-12 has jumped down from the car roof and was now stood next to the others.

"We should press on until we get to the turnoff. We'll find some place to bunker down and rest and eat lunch, before continuing on to the prison. Any questions?"

Jonas raised his hand dramatically, just like a school kid would do in class.

"Do we get a loo break too, sir!?"

Sonya started shaking with laughter. Valen knew Jonas was trying to get a rise out of him, suddenly realising the tension from earlier between him and Jonas had lessened. He decided to up the ante a little, if only to see how the Hunter would react, and maybe lighten the mood further.

"Of course, Guardian. After all, it would hardly be fitting that when the time comes for us to confront Zeksis, you ended up pissing yourself."

Sonya bent double, her laughter so loud that even though her helmet's com system was off they could still hear her through the faceplate. Loken-12 began to chuckle too. He clapped the Hunter on the back.

"Jonas, I have to thank you. It's been a long time since a heard Valen crack a joke like that. Keep it up!"

An hour later, the fireteam were resting under an overhanging section of rock, about 500 metres from the side of the road that formed the turnoff to the prison. The rock provided them with some protection from the elements, mostly dust that whipped up occasionally in the wind. The team had removed their helmets, both for a breath of fresh air as well as to eat their rations. They had encountered no other patrols, nor seen any sign of any other hostiles in the area. The road that formed the turnoff was devoid of wreckage, save for one large vehicle the Sonya theorised had been a prison bus.

They had found over a dozen skeletons inside, including one at the front near the driver who had an old fashioned shotgun lying next to him. Loken-12 had wondered why the Fallen hadn't pillaged the bus of the weapon, until he had tried to pick it up. He discovered that the intense heat from the blast that had fried the bus and its occupants had also heat-welded the gun to the deck. Metal weapon to metal decking. The barrel of the gun had also been deformed by the heat, rendering it useless even if someone was to expend the energy of removing it. Little wondered why then the Fallen – along with anyone else who found it – had ignored it.

Valen went over the layout of the prison again with Sparky, as well as covering the approach to the prison itself. It seemed to be a straight run to the prison from where they currently were located, except for crossing a large gully about 30 metres deep that was about half a mile from the prison. There was a large bridge over the gully that the road they were currently next to ran up to, then continued on to the main complex. The information from the previous attempts to kill Zeksis didn't cover the question about the possibility of enemy forces manning the bridge. If it was Valen that had established himself in the prison and was using it as a base of operations, then he certainly would have an armed presence at the bridge, seeing as it was the main approach.

Valen decided that it would be wise to send Jonas in ahead again to scout out the situation. He would certainly be able to tell if the Fallen were at the bridge or not, and if they were, he might spot a way for them to get past without being detected. There had to be a way. After all, the other Guardians had only been detected once they got to the prison themselves, not on their way to it.

Valen turned to Jonas, who was checking the scope of his sniper rifle. He briefly wondered if this was the same kind of scope that Banshee-44 had mistaken sold, or if it was a different model. He knew from working with Hunters before that they could become very attached to their sniper rifles, having customised them to their exacting specs.

"I will need you to scope out the bridge ahead once we get going. If I were in charge of the prison I would place a squad or two of soldiers on it, in order to at least give me a heads up when trouble came knocking."

The Hunter nodded, still checking his rifle as he responded.

"The Speaker mentioned to me after the briefing that Rojas had managed to cross the gully at its narrowest point. There is apparently an incline we could use as a ramp for our Sparrows. Going at it at full speed, we should be able to cross over like he did. We may not even need to go near the bridge."

"True," said Valen, "but I'd like you to still scope out the bridge, at least to let us know if we will have enemies at our back once the fighting starts."

The Hunter finished checking his weapon, then stood up.

"Sure thing. You're the boss after all."

Valen thought he caught a note of resentment in Jonas's words. Was it possible that he had actually wanted to lead the mission? Valen felt that now was the time to get some answers, as well as hopefully clear the air between them.

"You sound as if you would prefer it that you were 'the boss', as you say. When we were in the Hall of Guardians I overheard you tell Cayde-6 that you tend to work alone or with just one other Guardian. Has that changed?"

Jonas shook his head.

"No. Nothing in that respect has changed. It's just that I am used to being my own man, doing my own thing, within the rules as they are laid out for us. But even when I work with another Guardian, be it Sonya or another, I have always been out at the front, leading them past the dangers that are there. Only Rojas has ever led me during a mission, especially whilst he was training me to begin with."

Valen thought for a moment.

"These other Guardians. How many of them would you say you've worked with?

Jonas gave the question some thought before responding.

"Seven in total. The first was Rojas, my mentor. He was a Hunter like me. Sonya was next, as well as being the Guardian I've worked the most with. Apart from them, two other Hunters, another Warlock who got himself killed during our first mission together, and two Titans, both of whom were fairly new to being Guardians."

"And you've always been _on point_ in each case?"

Jonas looked at him as if Valen had just asked if the Traveler was round.

"Of course I am. I am a Hunter. We are the pathfinders amongst the Guardians. You can only perform reconnaissance from the front."

Valen thought back to Sonya's words when she had told him about when she had worked with Jonas in the past. _"I have always let him lead from the front not because he is a natural leader, but because of his skills as a scout and his knowledge of the wastelands."_ Valen now saw what Sonya had been getting at. It was true that a good leader always led from the front, but that was not what defined someone AS a leader. Being a leader was about making choices that affected the team, as well as the success of the mission. Weather to take a left to flank the enemy, or to take a right. One choice might lead to victory, whilst the other led to failure, or even death. It was about making those choices and about being responsible for them that made someone a leader.

Guiding a fellow Guardian or Guardians through a minefield or around it wasn't leadership. Indicating what would make a good entry-point into a building wasn't leadership. It was DECIDING whether to go through or around that minefield that was leadership. It was deciding which entry-point to use that was leadership. Valen realised that because Jonas had always most likely done his own reconnaissance he had made those decisions by himself.

Was THAT why Jonas thought he should be leading this team? Was it possible that he had confused the role of a scout for that of a leader? Did he think that because he was the one gathering the intelligence that he was then the one who should make the decisions based on that intelligence? Did Jonas understand the difference between guiding a team, and leading one? Valen certainly did, but he needed for Jonas to understand as well, before this tension between them became a wall, one that could hinder communication and therefore jeopardise their mission. Not to mention their lives…

"Jonas, when I said _on point_, I meant that you've almost always taken the lead. You've only followed your mentor's orders before now, and I think that's what is making this difficult, for both of us. You are used to making the decisions, right? Even when you partnered up with a Guardian in the past, they have always deferred to you because of your experience as a scout. You've never been part of a full-blown fireteam, and certainly never one this large before. Have you had any experience leading a full fireteam? I have, which is why I believe the Speaker put me in charge."

"But that doesn't mean -" Jonas started, but Valen cut him off.

"Listen to me Jonas. Being the leader is more than just choosing a path to follow. A leader is also about taking on the burden of making the right choices for the team and mission, based on the information that's available. It's the leader's responsibility to ensure the rest of the team stays alive, as well as to come up with the best plan they can for completing the mission."

Jonas was silent for a while, glancing off towards the direction they would shortly be going in. After a moment he looked back at Valen, his face unreadable.

"And you think I am incapable of making those decisions?"

"Not when it's just yourself, or for yourself and one other. You've had plenty of experience doing so. But I've had experience leading a whole fireteam before."

Suddenly, Valen had an epiphany. A flash of insight as to why the Speaker – or rather Commander Zavala in fact – had chosen Valen to lead this larger-than-normal fireteam.

"Even before I was a Guardian, I was leading men in to battle. I was a platoon sergeant in the Lunar Guard during the Collapse, and I was in charge of an 8 man squad, as well as being second in command to the entire platoon. That's 30 guardsmen, not including myself and the lieutenant in charge. And when my squad was split into fireteams as we knew them back then, I was in charge of my own four-man team. That's why I am team leader here, Jonas. I have experience leading a team this size, something I doubt any other Guardian could claim, unless they were themselves in a similar role before their deaths."

He looked at Jonas squarely, knowing that what he was about to ask was not something a Guardian usually should ask.

"What did you do in life before you became a Guardian, Jonas? Did it include any military experience in it? Any experience of leading men and women into combat?"

Jonas shifted uneasily before finally answering.

"I was… a farmer's son. Grew up on the farm, only leaving it to go to school, then college. My father was the one in the family who served in the Terran Guard, and he trained me and both my brothers what he had learned. He was just a Private during his tour of duty, before a leg injury led to a medical discharge. He was the one who taught me how to shoot a long rifle. I never joined up because he got a raw deal from the Guard when they discharged him, basic pension, no compensation, even though his injury was caused by his CO's incompetence. After seeing what they did to him, I didn't feel like they deserved my loyalty."

Valen nodded, understanding Jonas's anger at such a thing.

"And… what about me, Jonas? Do I have your loyalty?"

Jonas grinned for the first time Valen could remember.

"Jury's still out on that. Only when you've proven to me that you ARE deserving of it do you get it. Until then, I guess I'll just keep following your orders and see how you do. Should be interesting."

With that, the Hunter gave Valen one last nod – the grin still pulling at his lips, then he shouldered his sniper rifle, turned and walked away towards the bridge ahead. And although it was not yet in sight, Valen knew, also towards the target of this mission: Zeksis the Devil Prince.


	3. Mission 1-2 - Prison Break-In

_The fireteam heads towards the prison complex, then makes their way inside._

"_Little wonder why Rojas chose to jump the gully on his Sparrow, rather cross over it here,"_ thought Sonya as she watched the bridge from cover.

The bridge crossed the gully at what could be called a choke point of sorts, where the walls in this stretch were closer together than in most places along its length. The bridge was entirely made out of metal, and was designed to accommodate two lanes of traffic. A series of support struts rose up on either side at three points: once at each end of the bridge and again in the middle. A reinforced checkpoint lay before the bridge on their side, consisting of a building between the two lanes as well as a pair of armoured gates on either side. They seemed to be designed to slide back into alcoves within the walls when open.

The walls themselves were also heavily armoured, and stretched along in both directions for about 300 metres, before reaching a pair of watch towers that looked like they housed two weapons emplacements each. From the towers, the armoured walls jutted towards the gully at a 45 degree angle for another 50 metres, before turning 45 degrees again and heading straight for the gully, right up to the edge. The ends of the walls dropped downwards into the gully for about 20 metres, anchored to the side of the gully wall.

Sonya remembered the Speaker mention during the briefing that the prison complex that Zeksis had chosen as his lair had been a high security facility, housing the worse convicts of society during the era of its construction. Given the degree of fortification that had gone into this checkpoint alone, Sonya could believe it. Any ground vehicle that tried to run through this checkpoint would essentially be driving straight in to a kill zone, even before it reached the gates. That, plus whatever defences lay on the other side of those forbidding grey walls as well. She could not see over them; each wall was at least 10 to 12 metres high, with the tops of the towers being another 3 metres on top of that. She could however see the tops of two more towers behind the wall. Judging from the size and angle, she figured they were bracketing the mouth of the bridge.

She glanced up and to her left. 30 metres away, Jonas lay prone atop a flat section of rock raised about 5 or so metres above her position, watching the activity at the checkpoint through the scope of his sniper rifle. Although it was too far away for her to see unaided, she could JUST make out movement around the two gates, one of which was firmly closed shut. The other was mostly open though, allowing access through to the bridge. The gate appeared to only be about three-quarters of the way open, judging from the width of the road leading up to it.

Valen and Loken-12 were positioned like her in cover behind the rocks, off to her right at a 5 metre spread between each of them. They were both watching the checkpoint as like Jonas, ready to open fire if the Fallen discovered their presence. The com system came alive with the Hunter's voice.

"I make out about two dozen Dregs at the main gate alone, along with three… make that four Vandals. There's a pair of Captains too, moving amongst them. The two towers also have a pair of Vandals each. Looks like they're all armed with Wire Rifles. No sign of armoured support, though it could just be on the other side of the wall. The gate couldn't fit a Devil walker through, it's not wide enough. Doesn't stop them bringing one across the bridge and parking it behind the walls I guess."

Sonya mulled over this information. About thirty Fallen on the ground alone, plus the four snipers in the towers. The terrain was completely open between the rocks they were using as cover and the checkpoint, with a distance between them being at least 500 meters. There was no way they would be able to cross that stretch of land without being spotted, at least not in the day time.

Valen's voice cut in through the channel. It sounded like he had been having the same thoughts she had.

"I can see a searchlight on top of each tower, Jonas. Do they look operational to you?"

Jonas's response came a moment later.

"Yeah, they look intact and powered. I can JUST see some fresh cabling coming up from behind the wall in both cases. Most likely they have a power module or two hooked up. I'd say a night-time approach is off the menu."

Sonya heard Valen curse over the channel. She could understand why. They're only alternative to the bridge was the method Jonas had mentioned Rojas using; jumping across the gully a couple of miles north where the gully REALLY bottlenecked. The Hunter had found a spot where the wall on this side of the gully rose up in a slope, forming a natural ramp. He had used his Sparrow to jump the yawning chasm by going at it full throttle, with the boosters open flat out. The manoeuvre was reckless, death-defying and typical of the sort of thing you would expect a Hunter to try. She knew that Valen was not overly keen to risk losing a member of the fireteam, if any of them had trouble making the jump. It was after all a long way down; no one would survive the drop.

There did not appear to be many other options, however. The bridge was just too heavily defended. Almost certainly there would be an alarm system in place that would be triggered once they initiated any kind of attack. Assuming that they managed to get past the forces stationed at the foot of the bridge, they would then be confronted with whatever forces the Devil Prince chose to send out against them. A stealthy approach was more favoured, hence the reason why they had not simply deployed from their Jumpships on the other side of the gully. If they had do so, then they would have been detected by Zeksis's forces long before they reached the prison.

Loken-12 spoke up, voicing everyone's shared thoughts.

"I guess this means we take the Hunter's route after all. I don't think the four of us could get across that distance intact without taking fire from those snipers, even if we were to use our Sparrows. Besides, some thirty odd Fallen out in the open make one hell of an unpleasant welcoming committee. I guess Zeksis really values his privacy."

Sonya imagined Valen gritting his teeth behind his helmet. Loken-12 was right: attacking the checkpoint would be suicide. Sneaking past would be impossible too. With the walls being that high the open gate was the only way through, and was therefore the most heavily guarded point.

She slunk back down behind cover, resting her back against the rock. She summoned up her Ghost, wanting to check to see if there were any other points along the gully they might cross over at.

"Shade, how far does the gully ahead stretch in both directions?"

Shade - Sonya's Ghost, appeared in front of her.

"The Gully continues approximately 20 miles north from this position, judging by the data provided by the Speaker. It stretches another 8 miles southwards the other way, before curving around to head another 10 miles south-east. There are four points where the gully narrows. The first is here, where the bridge is. The second is a point 2.5 miles north and is the narrowest point along the gully's length. The other two points are in the opposite direction. Neither point is as narrow as the spot to the north, but both are narrower than here at the bridge. There are no records indicating any kind of crossing at either point."

"What about where the gully starts and ends?"

The Ghost's eye flickered for a moment.

"The gully leads out of a range of mountains to the north, terrain that my data indicates is rated as 'impassable'. It peters out into the desert east, south-east of us. The desert is reported to be heavy in Fallen activity, making an encounter there highly likely if we were to venture there."

"Is there any point where the gully becomes shallow enough to descend safely?"

"Sorry, Guardian, but my data is incomplete in that respect. The stretches that it is complete however show that this bridge and the point to the north are amongst the shallowest points."

"_So, no climbing down one side and up the other then,"_ Sonya thought as she turned to Valen. She noted that he had his Ghost out too. She'd heard him call it Sparky earlier, back at the highway. For a moment, she wondered if Loken-12 had given his Ghost a name. She knew Jonas hadn't; He didn't see the point. She had met a few other Guardians who had given names to their Ghosts over the years, though not as many as those who hadn't.

She opened up a channel to Valen.

"I've had my Ghost assess whether there is anywhere else we can cross. Doesn't look like it though. Jonas's spot up north seems to be the best bet; there's no other recorded bridges along the gully, no spots where we can climb down one side and up the other, and trying to go around will take us 20 miles in one direction and around 18 in the other. Hate to say it, Valen, but it looks like it's here, or the jump."

Valen nodded, dismissing his Ghost at the same time. When he spoke, Sonya detected a note of resignation in his voice.

"My Ghost says the same thing. I do not think we should make an attempt here; the odds of success are heavily against us. I guess that only leaves the jump. At least Jonas will be happy." He switched to an open channel to the whole team. "Looks like we're going to be doing this Rojas's way. Let's head north and find the crossing. Once we get there we will assess the place to see if it's safe enough to risk jumping. I just hope none of us ends up dead."

"_Well,"_ mused Sonya, _"it's not as bad as we feared. But it could still kill us."_ It had taken them just over an hour to get there by foot. Because of the need for stealth, Valen had opted against using their Sparrows until they actually got to the place they were headed. Streaking along the ground at high speed aboard their machines WOULD have cut down the time taken to get there, but the noise from them would have announced their presence to any Fallen in the area. The jump itself actually looked feasible. The only thing that bothered Sonya was the fact that there was no way to get back across once the mission was complete.

"_Still, by then the enemy will know we are there, so the need for stealth will have passed. We'll just get clear from the prison complex and call in our Jumpships to pick us up."_

She watched as Jonas walked carefully over to the edge of the gully. The Hunter was taking his duties seriously, despite the fact that he was obviously excited. She knew it was the first time Valen had seen Jonas this happy, seeing as the two men had only known each other for a few hours. Valen asked her if Jonas's good mood was a regular occurrence or not.

"Jonas does have a wild side to him," she informed the Titan. "Usually, he lets it out when he's not on a mission. He likes playing cards a lot, especially Poker. He also enjoys racing a lot. He has been caught by the City Guard more than once street racing through the city on his Nomad. He actually has two of them; an S-21 he uses for racing and an S-22 for official duties. He still has his old Shrike that he started out with, but only for emergencies. I'm the same. I've kept my Shrike loaded on my Jumpship always, in case anything happens to my Seeker."

Sonya had always liked that fact about Jonas; that like her he had a backup Sparrow just in case.

"Does he win any races?" Valen asked, trying to be social.

"Most of them. The only times he doesn't is when he's not the only Guardian competing. Not that he loses every time other Guardians are in the race, just that he has never lost to someone who isn't one. He's always in the top three, regardless of who's racing, though."

"Which is why I imagine he's looking forward to this jump; our Hunter is something of a daredevil."

Sonya nodded, then glanced back towards the gully's edge. Jonas was on his way back. From his cocky stride, she knew he was confident he'd make the jump. She started towards Valen, noting that Loken-12 was doing the same. She switched channels, speaking to Jonas privately.

"So, how does it look?"

"Like real fun, Sonya. This is going to be awesome! Just like back in the city!"

"_Oh hell,"_ she thought. _"He's in that kind of mood."_ Jonas had a habit of using words like 'awesome' and 'cool' and 'unreal' whenever he was planning on doing something that he thought of as exciting, but what usually turned out to be dangerous.

"Well," she said, "just so long as we all make it across, I'll be happy to agree with you on that. Until then, I'm withholding my judgement."

As the four of them came together, Valen switched to the team's shared channel.

"So, fearless Hunter, how does it look?"

"Perfect! The cresting at the top of the gully wall will give us an excellent ramp to launch ourselves from. I've done this before, sometimes in the city even. The angle is ideal. We just need to make sure we are all going at top speed when we reach it."

Loken-12 spoke up.

"How far back do you think we'll need to go to get a good run-up?"

Jonas considered this for a moment.

"Hmmm, I'd say just past that stump over there. A tad further if you want."

He pointed to a clearing next to a large wooden stump in the ground about 150 metres away, near the edge of a treeline.

"That should give us more than enough distance to get up to top speed."

Valen nodded.

"Ok, let's do this then. Jonas, since you say you've done this before, I'd like you to go first. No offence, but I need to know it's possible before the whole team try's to get across."

Jonas nodded, then summoned up his Ghost.

"Ghost, my Nomad if you please."

The Hunter's Sparrow materialised a second later, with Jonas astride it. He brought the machine around slowly, then took off towards the clearing. As he did so, the others moved off to one side, clearing him a path. Jonas brought his golden Sparrow around when he got to the clearing, then stopped. Sonya knew he was focusing for a few moments, visualising the jump before him as he had done when he went racing in the city. He always checked the routes the race would be taking a day or two before the actual race, in order to become familiar with the track. Of course, there were some tracks he knew off by heart, having raced them countless times in the past.

After a few seconds, he threw the machine into motion, accelerating towards the gap. About a third of the way there he kicked in the thrusters. The bike lurched forwards, picking up speed as he closed the distance between himself and the gap. As he passed the other Guardians he opened a channel to them all.

"This is what I live for," he declared.

Jonas hit the incline at top speed, roared up the slope and cleared the ground. His Nomad went sailing across the gap with him on board, the glow from the engines flaring behind him. Time seemed to slow down, both for Jonas and his fellow Guardians. The three held their breaths, knowing that if Jonas had misjudged anything, then there was nothing they could do to save him. Jonas however didn't hold his breath. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Yee-haw!" he cried at the top of his lungs as he reached the zenith of the arc his Sparrow flew in. As he started to descend there was a moment where Sonya thought he had misjudged the distance. But, no, Jonas's Sparrow landed with about three metres to spare on the opposite side of the gully. He had done it.

Jonas brought his machine around and to a halt, then waved to them.

"Come on over, the air's wonderful up there!"

Valen shook his head in wonder.

They each got across the gap without incident, first Sonya on her purple S-20 Seeker, then Loken-12 on his grey S-20 Cavalier. As Valen summoned up his own S-20 Cavalier – grey, like Loken-12's, Sonya realised that he was about to do something very similar to what he had done the last time he had ridden it. He had mentioned to her earlier about his run-in with the Devil Walker, as well as the sermon Amanda Holliday had given him.

"_If I screw this up, she is going to kill me,"_ he'd confessed to her, not realising until later that if he screwed things up too much, he would end up dead anyway. As Valen accelerated, Sonya offered up a prayer to the Traveler, even though she was not that one of those Guardians that was heavily religiously devote. She watched as he tore up the incline and took off into the void between him and the rest of his team. It seemed to her like ages before he landed on the other side, at which point she let out the breath she'd subconsciously been holding. Glancing over at the others, Valen stirred his machine over towards them. They had each dismounted and dismissed their own machines. After all, now that they were on the other side of the gully, the chances of the Fallen hearing the noise from the engines were increased. They were in deep within enemy territory now, and could not afford to be discovered until they had at least reached the prison.

Jonas took the lead again, scouting out ahead. Valen came next, followed by Sonya. Loken-12 brought up the rear. Every so often the Exo looked over his shoulder back the way they had come, to ensure they were not being followed. Valen and Sonya kept their eyes open as well, Valen glancing off to the left ever now and again whilst Sonya did the same towards the right. The fireteam made good time getting to the roadway that led back towards the bridge they had circumvented in one direction, whilst their destination – and their target, lay in the other.

The prison complex, and Zeksis, Devil Prince of the Fallen.

The prison complex was laid out before them. From their vantage point on a nearby hill, the fireteam could see the layout of the facility in a good amount of detail. Jonas had been the one to scout out the spot they were now situated at. They were atop a high cliff face that let them look out over the outer courtyard walls and into the place properly. The spot had a collection of large boulders at their backs, masking their silhouettes from the horizon line. A ledge jutted out from the cliff towards the prison, upon which the fireteam was now lain prone near the edge. Jonas was scoping out the exterior of the prison with his sniper rifle's telescopic sight, just as he had done at the bridge earlier. Sonya and the others meanwhile used their own unmagnified vision to survey what they could see.

The prison's perimeter was laid out in the shape of a large octagon, defined by a large, 20 plus metre high wall all around. The wall was at least 3 metres thick – possibly even 4 metres, with each wall being the same length and at the same angle as the next. The top of the wall was certainly wide enough for guards to patrol along, all away around its entire length, which most likely happened. This was a given fact, since it had been a prison for dangerous criminals, plus the fact that there were two sets of metal fences on the top of the wall. One was on the outside and one on the inside, with a space in-between for a couple of guards to move past one another. The fences added another 4 metres to the wall's height, making the prospect of getting over them daunting.

At each of the eight corners of the perimeter wall was a guard tower, much larger than the ones at the bridge. Each had two visible floors above wall height. The lower floors had doors on either side, allowing patrolling guards on the walls to enter and leave. The lower floor also housed two gun nests for heavy weapon emplacements. The upper floors had a further third gun nest, which most likely was used for snipers. Jonas theorised that each tower had a spiralling stairwell inside the tower, which went down below ground level and connected to a series of passageways, which likely connected them up together, as well as to the central building.

A large pair of double-gated entrances were situated at the front of the prison. Each gate was bracketed by its own pair of towers, similar to the ones they had seen at the bridge earlier. The two lanes that fed into them linked up about 30 metres down the road, which then led off towards said bridge. A Devil Walker was squatting between the two lanes directly in front of the wall, acting as a guard. Numerous Fallen could be seen swarming around the gates at the front, about 40 or so by Sonya's estimation.

Past the perimeter wall was an open courtyard, divided up into eight sections by a series of 8 metre high walls, each with a single fence identical to the ones on the perimeter wall. Each wall started at the base of one of the eight perimeter towers, heading inwards in a straight line towards the central building. Said building followed the same basic shape as the perimeter, an eight-sided structure in the shape of an octagon. The building was made up of what appeared to be four floors above ground, each one with tiny barred windows stretching along its length. A smaller, fifth floor was positioned on top, though this floor was different to this others.

Firstly, it did not cover the same amount of floor space as the others below. It only stretched up to about 20 metres away from the edge of the building, creating a short of 'capped' effect overall. Secondly, the windows on this floor were not barred and were noticeably larger, with the remnants of shattered glass in each. Loken-12 speculated that this was where the prison guards had lived and worked in, when they had not been on duty. The final item of notice was the four large gun emplacements that were positioned atop this fifth floor, at equal distances from each other. One was positioned at the front of the building, another at the back whilst the remaining two were at the sides. Only three of the four gun emplacements housed a weapon system however. The emplacement to the rear was bare, but the other three each displayed a large calibre, high-capacity plasma cannon.

Each main emplacement was also bracketed by a pair of smaller emplacements, most of them housing what looked to be rapid-firing laser cannons. These were rotary cannons, each boasting three barrels that rotated at speed, allowing the weapon to attain a high rate of fire. The plasma cannons were for big, slow moving targets: these smaller 'repeater' guns were for interdicting smaller, fast moving aircraft.

Sonya noted the absence of the plasma cannon, along with the missing repeater guns. There were three unaccounted for, one from each site that still housed a plasma cannon. She wondered briefly about where the plasma cannon was now, then realised that the Fallen had probably cannibalised it to repair the other three. Same with the repeater guns. She mentioned this to Valen, who responded by saying that the team would be well away from the prison complex before calling in their Jumpships for extraction. With such anti-aircraft capability, the prison's defenders could easily shred anything airborne that came near.

There was a second inner courtyard at the centre of the main building, shaped as octagonal as the building itself. It appeared to have no fences dividing it up, though the team could not quite see the floor of the courtyard due to the angle of their view being too low. What they could see however was the structure that was suspended off the ground above the central courtyard, supported by a series of solid-looking girders emerging from each corner of the courtyard wall, emanating from the top. A single enclosed walkway led from the top floor of the main building on one side, connecting to the central structure, which was also octagonal, keeping to the theme the rest of the prison seemed to be built around.

Sonya wondered what its purpose was back when the prison was in use by the people who had built it. The warden's office perhaps? Or maybe a command and control centre for the entire prison? Whatever it was, seeing as it was in the centre of the facility led her to reason that this structure was the most likely location of their target. As she thought this, Valen's voice cut in over the shared channel.

"We'll need to be far enough away when it comes time for extraction, otherwise those gun batteries with tear our Jumpships apart."

Loken-12 pitched in his thoughts.

"I was thinking about destroying them whilst we are here. They pose a threat to any Jumpships that pass through this area."

"That's probably one of the reasons why this Zeksis chose this location for a base," Sonya stated. "If we could at least knock out the smaller guns then the Fallen would be restricted to using the main cannons. Those big guns don't look as if they are set up for tracking fast-moving targets like Jumpships."

As she watched, Valen summoned his Ghost.

"Sparky, if we wanted to take out all the laser cannons mounted on the top of the prison, what would be the most efficient way?"

"The Fallen appear to have tied each cannon into its own power source, so knocking out one will not affect the others. Besides, the power cores being used could easily be replaced by the Fallen, meaning that such action would only cripple the guns for a short while. The only way to disable the guns permanently would be to sabotage them directly. I suggest targeting the gun barrels on each weapon, or alternately taking out the main emitter array. Either action will cripple the cannon."

"I suggest we target the emitter arrays," said Sonya. "If they are anything like the ones found on a Fusion Rifle, then they are the most delicate component of the cannons, as well as the most difficult to repair. At least, that is what Banshee-44 always tells me when I bring him mine in for repairs."

Valen looked back at his Ghost.

"Where are the emitter arrays located?"

"They would be situated at the base of the barrels, just behind the focusing lens. Each emitter array is made up of a series of four to six crystals that are susceptible to all manner of weapons fire, but that section of the cannon will be shielded, so you will have to remove some maintenance panels before opening fire. Or, you could just use some explosive ordinance. I doubt the shielding will protect the array from a rocket strike."

Valen considered this.

"No, I'd like to keep our rockets in reserve in case they have any armour inside, like that Devil Walker out front. Besides, shooting off rockets is likely to get noticed. Sparky, how easy would it be to remove the emitters themselves? Could it be done quickly and quietly?"

"I believe it should be a simple enough process. You would need to remove the screws holding the maintenance panel in place, then remove the panel itself. Then pull out the emitter's housing assembly and uncouple the emitter array from it. The emitters are all housed on the same array, so you will end up removing them all in one go. The process should take about three minutes at the maximum."

"What does the actual emitter look like?" asked Sonya.

"It is a circular metallic disk that will be between 8 to 12 inches in diameter, depending on the exact model of laser cannon. The centre of the disk will contain a series of optical refinement crystals, around 4 to 6 of them in a circle."

"Ok then," said Valen. "We'll disable the guns by removing the emitters. However, our main priority is Zeksis. We should only take out the guns if there's an opportunity to do so without compromising the mission."

"As we'll be where they are, we could send an extra few minutes disabling the main cannons as well," suggested Sonya. "They are right next to the laser cannons, after all."

Valen glanced at his Ghost.

"Sparky, is the process for disabling the plasma cannons any different to the laser cannons?"

"Only in that the plasma cannons have two emitter arrays, both of which are accessed via the same maintenance panel. Apart from that, the only other difference is that the emitters do not contain several small crystals, but just one large crystal each."

"Ok, if we end up slagging the laser cannons, we'll deal with the plasma cannons too. Might as well shut down their anti-aircraft capability completely whilst we are there." It made sense to Sonya. Those main cannons wouldn't pose a threat to a Jumpship unless the Fallen got really lucky, but if the city ever sent out a salvage operation this way, they would not be as fortunate.

"Of course," said Loken-12, pointing towards the perimeter wall, "all of this planning is worthless if we can't even get in. Any thoughts on our entry point, Jonas?"

The Hunter pointed to a damaged section of the perimeter wall facing northwards towards them. It looked as if something had smashed straight through the wall, leaving a jagged hole big enough for a tank to just squeeze through. Parts of the wall were scattered across the ground outside the perimeter, suggesting that the damage had come from the inside.

"That's were Rojas tried getting in I'll bet, so we should avoid it. It's too obvious an entry point from the perspective of an intruder, hence the Fallen most likely have it well covered. They've bound to have a dozen or more laser-trip mines all over the breach, along with perhaps an alarm system rigged up."

His gaze shifted back to the perimeter wall at the rear of the facility, then he chuckled, lowering the rifle.

"Luckily, I came prepared."

It was dark by the time they got to the east wall, which was just as well as it helped cover their approach. Jonas had taken point again, whilst Valen followed. Sonya was next, with Loken-12 bring up the rear. It was the same formation they had used since the ambush on the highway. Valen hadn't even ordered them to form up in that order; it had just been natural. As they approached the perimeter wall at the rear of the prison, Sonya recalled want Jonas had shown off what he had brought with him. He had it stored on the back of his Nomad, secured there on a rack she knew he had asked Amanda Holliday to install.

There were two components. One was a long length of climbing cable with an odd contraption attached at one end. It consisted of three hooks fastened around a tube with two-thirds of a fist-sized sphere on top, all made of metal. Where the sphere ended was flat, sporting a ring of faint blue light emanating from within. Jonas had explained to them what the contraption was whilst they had been on the cliff.

"I've only ever used this when I'm out on my own," he'd explained, "but there's no reason we can't all use it. It's a grappling hook and cable. The hook's made out of solid titanium and has an electro-magnetic clamp at the head to attach itself to metallic surfaces."

He then showed them the other component. It was a compact launcher that used compressed air to fire the grappling hook, and it folded out from its compact shape at the touch of a button. Jonas told them that he could use this to shoot the grappling hook up over the perimeter wall, then they could climb up the cable. The cable was only meant to carry one person's weight at a time, he had warned, so they'd have to climb up one at a time.

Loken-12 had asked Jonas why they were climbing over the wall at the rear, when the side wall was closer. Jonas had pointed towards the back of the prison and explained his reasoning.

"Have you noticed how the wall has a fence on top all the way around? You can't see it without using my rifle scope, but there's a section of it that's missing at the back. Stretches for about 10 metres or more, meaning that we can cross straight over the wall there without having to climb any fencing."

Sonya watched as Valen had glanced back at the prison complex. After a moment, the Titan spoke.

"Then that's our entry point," he'd said. "We will wait until night, the dark helping to mask our approach. Once we get over the wall we will head straight to the main building. If we can sneak in we'll see about getting up to the roof to take out those guns. Once the guns are silenced, we head straight for that central structure. It's bound to be where Zeksis is hiding. If we're detected before the guns are taken care of, then we abandon our plans to destroy them and head straight for Zeksis. Any questions?"

Immediately, Jonas's hand had shot up, just like it had before, back at the highway.

"Can I sing a song as we walk, sir!?"

Sonya had heard Loken-12 snigger over the fireteam's shared channel, whilst she had lowered her head, shaking it as bubbles of laughter threatened to explode up her throat. She remembered Jonas using the same tone of voice back at the highway. She had heard it before, whenever he was feeling a little mischievous. She hadn't mentioned it to Valen, but Jonas had a comical side to him, his dry witticism sometimes giving way to a lighter sense of humour.

Like before – back at the sight of the ambush on the highway, Valen had chosen to answer Jonas with a quip of his own, which led Sonya to believe that Valen was starting to lighten up to the Hunter.

"No Jonas. I think if we get ambushed along the way we have enough weapons we can use on the Fallen, without having to resort to subjecting them to physiological trauma."

His words had burst though the dam Sonya had been using to try and contain her laughter. Loken-12 had laughed as well, commenting the Jonas may act like a serious, by the book Guardian most of the time, but that he was also a joker at times, dubbing him there and then 'the team jester'. Jonas had been nonplussed for a moment, then had chuckled, saying "If you say so." Sonya knew that Jonas wasn't used to this sort of response to his jokes, and had been thrown by Loken-12's comments too.

Focusing on the here and now, Sonya glanced back down the scope of her pulse rifle again, watching along the base of the wall the team was currently setting up to scale. She would occasionally switch directions, checking that there was no Fallen coming from the other way. Valen and Loken-12 were keeping a lookout for any Fallen that may be patrolling along the top of the wall, between the two sets of fencing. The fireteam hadn't seen any during their observation of the prison earlier in the day, but as Jonas had pointed out, it was night-time now. The Fallen might patrol along the top of the perimeter wall during the night, being aware that the darkness reduced their range of vision. So, the two Titans kept watching the top of the wall in both directions, just in case.

Jonas was prepping the 'Harpoon' – as he liked to call it – for firing. He folded out the stock, then slid the detachable barrel from its bracket on the side, and screwed it into place. Finally, he loaded the grappling hook into the launcher's muzzle, pushing it in until there was a soft 'click' inside the device. He proceeded to calibrate the settings on the other side of the launcher, adjusting them to take into account the amount of compressed air pressure needed to send the grappling hook high enough to get over the wall. The Hunter raised the weapon upwards, taking aim at a point about two metres above the top of the wall. After a moment, he fired.

The launcher made a low click as the grapple shot away from Jonas, the projectile whistling as it flew upwards towards the wall's peak. It sailed over the top and started to come back down behind the wall of grey that stood facing them. A second later the whole team heard a '_thud'_ as the grapple hit the side of the wall on the far side, followed immediately by a _'clank'_ as the electro-magnetic head activated and latched on to the wall. Jonas pulled in the cable until it became tight, then gave it a few hard tugs to make sure it was secure.

"Alright," he said. "We're set. I'll head up first to secure the top and keep a watch for any Fallen patrols on the other side." He moved closer to the wall until he was within arms-reach of it. "Wish me luck."

With that, the Hunter began to ascend up the wall at a steady rate, using dents in the wall as footholds as he climbed. Sonya maintained her over-watch on the ground, knowing that Valen and Loken-12 were keeping watch the wall. It seemed to Sonya that it took forever for Jonas to get to the top, but when she checked the readout on her head-up-display, only two and a half minutes had passed. Jonas opened up a channel when he reached the top, updating the others on what he could see.

"We're in luck. There's not a single one of the bastards in the courtyard. Nothing coming our way on the wall in either direction either. I'll keep a watch on the wall whilst you come on up."

"Copy that," said Valen, as he started towards the cable. Sonya glanced to her side to watch as Valen took the first couple of steps up the wall, before returning her gaze to the ground. After another three and a half minutes, Valen climbed other the lip of the wall, taking up a new over-watch position before signalling Loken-12 to start climbing. It took the Exo slightly longer to scale the wall than it had Valen. Sonya put it down to Valen being a tad more in shape than Loken-12, possibly a relic from his days as a Luna Guard. Valen had shared with her a few bits about his life, prior to becoming a Guardian. He had not indicated how he had died though, which Sonya could well understand. He had wanted to keep that part of it to himself, and she had not pushed about it for details. It had become a sort of taboo among the Guardians to ask another Guardian about the manner of their death. It was often a painful memory that some Guardians chose to forget, in order for them to focus on their new life. There was no taboo against volunteering to tell another about how YOUR 'past life' had ended, but you never asked another. Some deaths could be highly traumatic, with the Guardians in those cases being able to function only by burying those memories.

Once Loken-12 was at the top of the wall, Valen opened up an open channel to Sonya, as well as to the others, judging by what he next said.

"Ok, Sonya, up you come. Loken, keep a watch along the base of the wall to the left as she climbs. I'll watch the right. Jonas, once she's up I want you to pull up the cable and redeploy it down the other side for our decent."

As she started climbing, Sonya responded on the open team channel.

"We could head along the length of the wall until we reach the next guard tower, then go down the stairs until we get to the ground."

"I'm afraid that's not an option, love," said Jonas. "There's no exit at the base of the towers. It's like I said earlier. The stairwells must go down BELOW ground level and connect to the main building via a network of tunnels. Makes sense, really. The courtyards were used by the inmates to get some exercise each day, so the prison guards would not have wanted to get them any ideas about breaking through a locked door and getting into the guard towers. This way, the guards wouldn't have to even enter the courtyards in order to reach them, just go under them."

"We could use those tunnels to get to the main building," suggested Loken-12. "We wouldn't have to cross an open courtyard then and potently get spotted."

Sonya was about a half way up by this point, making good time in comparison to the two Titans who had ascended before her. She had always been athletic in nature, plus her Awoken heritage gave her an edge over humans in terms of endurance, so she was not as hard pressed as the others members of the team were. Even so, she took a full three minutes to reach the top, showing just how fit Jonas was in comparison. As she had scaled the second half of the wall, she heard Valen weighting up the pros and cons with the others about the idea Loken-12 had put forward. As she was about a metre from the top, he made his decision.

"No, we'll stick to going down the wall and across the courtyard. By going that route we can then use Jonas's Grappling Launcher again, in order to reach the roof of the main building from the courtyard without having to go inside. That will allow us to bypass the forces Zeksis most likely has based in there, giving us more time to sabotage the anti-aircraft cannons before they know we are here. Besides, we have no way of knowing where those tunnels come up inside the building, plus I don't want us to get caught in a firefight inside a narrow corridor underground, with no possible exit except to fall back."

Jonas nodded at this as Loken-12 helped Sonya up over the edge of the wall, then the Hunter stiffened as he looked across towards the next section of wall beyond the nearest guard tower. Sonya looked too, spotting a pair of dark shapes just visible in the darkness, moving along the wall.

"We'd better get a move on then, because there looks to be a couple of Fallen heading along the wall towards us. They'll reach that guard tower in about eight minutes. Assuming they don't stop inside the tower – which sods law says they won't, then that gives us about twelve minutes before they reach this position. It took us just over thirteen minutes to get up here, plus they'll be able see us long before they get here. I reckon they'll spot us a minute or so after coming out of the tower, so unless we want to start moving in the other direction, in the hope of finding another gap in the fence, we'd better get down to the courtyard, pronto."

He started to pull up the cable as he continued to speak.

"Going down is quicker than coming up, but I'd still like to try and get into cover up against the wall down there before they get close enough to spot us."

He secured the grappling hook's magnetic head to the wall's side facing the courtyard, then threw the cable down, keeping hold of it about a metre along from where it was attached. Valen moved forwards, keeping low to avoid being spotted by the Fallen plodding along the wall. Gripping the cable, he lowered himself down the side of the wall, Jonas holding the cable steady. The decent took just over two minutes, with Valen taking care to ensure he didn't go too fast in case he lost his grip on the cable. Once his boots were on the ground he moved off to one side, flattening himself against the wall he had just descended. Jonas nodded to Sonya next, casting a quick glance towards the approaching Fallen. Sonya had been watching them get nearer as Valen had lowered himself down. There was definitely just two of them, walking along the top of the wall in no great rush. She figured it was most likely a pair of Dregs, or possibly a Dreg led by a Vandal. It would have to be an easy-going Vandal though, walking at that pace. Being higher up in the chain of command that existed within the Fallen's ranks, they tended to be less complacent and more serious in mind when it came to their duty.

Sonya started down the cable Jonas held, noticing Loken-12 was moving into an over-watch position to cover her as the top of the wall disappeared from view. She descended as quickly as she could, finding that Jonas had been right; going down was easier. Occasionally she glanced down towards Valen, seeing that he had not moved from his position, though he was shifting his attention back and forth between watching the open courtyard she was descending in to, and the top of the wall where the Fallen were located. As soon as she touched down, she moved away from the cable, taking up a position on the opposite side of it to Valen. She signalled Jonas over the com system.

"I'm down and clear. Loken, your turn."

"Understood."

As Loken-12 began to climb down Sonya watched the courtyard around her, weapon raised like Valen's. At one point she stole a moment to glance up at Loken-12, in order to see how far he was. She then shifted her attention to the top of the wall. The dark shapes took her moment to spot against the night sky, but spot them she did, noticing that they were just about to enter the guard tower now. As she registered the sound of Loken-12 landing on the ground beside her, she realised that Jonas's estimate had been off. Her display indicated that only six minutes had passed since Valen had started down the cable. She knew that the Fallen would not immediately spot Jonas when they exited the tower, but if they happened to look down the side of the wall then they would spot him before he reached the ground. It was going to be close.

She looked up in time to catch Jonas start his descent. As she watched him come down the side of the wall, her eyes widened. Jonas hadn't been kidding when he said he did this often. Instead of climbing down the cable hand-over-hand as she and the others had done, he was sliding down the cable in short bursts, kicking away from the wall each time, letting his gloves protect him from the heat that the fiction was doubtlessly generating. In just over a minute he was down on the ground beside the three of them. Looking up toward the guard tower. From the angle none of them could see the door the Fallen would pass through, though they could see a light suddenly come on inside the tower's lower floor. Jonas was the first to speak.

"I guess they decided to stop off in the tower after all. It's nice to see fate giving us a break once in a while." He pointed towards the inner courtyard wall that led from the next tower along to the building. "I suggest we move along the main wall until we reach that dividing wall, then use it to hide our approach towards the prison. By the way, heads up." He connected the base of the cable to the launcher he had used, then looking up towards where the magnetic head still held the grappling hook in place, he pressed a button on the side. Following his gaze, Sonya saw the grapple suddenly drop from the side of the wall, picking up speed as it fell. Jonas stepped to one side as it hit the ground where the cable had ended, then started winding it back up. Sonya realised that the climbing cable must have a thinner, metallic cable inside that could be used to transmit a signal from the launcher to the electromagnet at the head of the grapple, allowing it to be switched off remotely. Once Jonas was done, he glanced over to Valen.

"All set. Ready to go when you are."

Valen nodded, signalling with a hand gesture for Jonas to lead off. The Titan moved into formation behind him, while Sonya moved into position after Valen, leaving Loken-12 to bring up the rear. They took their time moving along the wall, keeping watch for any sign of movement as they went. When they reached the dividing wall, Jonas turned and glanced back at the tower the Fallen had entered earlier. The light on the lower floor had been extinguished, though a second light was now visible in the tower's upper floor. Jonas shook his head in admonishment.

"They probably stopped for dinner, then set up shop in the gun nest there. Nice when it's the enemy that gets lazy."

Sonya could hear the regretful tone in his voice. She knew Jonas had a grudge against the Fallen ever since he had told her about the incident 4 years ago. She knew that Jonas felt guilty for having left the survivors that he had found then. He believed that if he had not left them then the Fallen might not have found them, thinking that it was him who had unintentionally given away their position. Plus, if he had remained, then he could have aided in the defence, adding his sniper fire to taking down the space pirates before they got within range to use their own weapons. Sonya didn't think that the self-blame was justified though. Jonas had been basing his decisions on the assurance that the leader of the survivors had given him, that the Fallen where long-gone from the area. Besides, if he'd remained there then he would never have been able to call for help from the Tower. Still, she knew simply telling him that would not change anything, lord knows how many times she had tried. She was so lost in thought that she almost missed Valen's next comment.

"Ok, let's get moving. I just hope there's no one on the roof when that grapple of yours lands, Jonas. It would make going up a bit more interesting than I would like."

With another hand gesture from Valen, the fireteam started forwards along the low wall, towards the main prison complex, and towards their target. Sonya knew that once they were inside, the time for sneaking about would be over. She doubted that they could reach Zeksis without being detected at all, though the longer they went undiscovered, the better their odds were. She was a little unnerved by the lack of enemies in the courtyard. Their intelligence suggested that Zeksis had quite a large war-host serving under him, which was entirely based here. There should have been a number of Dregs and Vandals standing guard inside of the perimeter walls, but so far there was nothing. Where was the enemy? Where they all inside, apart from a few patrols along the wall? There HAD been the forces at the front gate, but there could not have been more than forty of them, not including the Devil Walker. A war-host tended to contain at least a hundred or so Fallen, mostly made up of Dregs commanded by numerous Vandals, whom where themselves directed by a handful of Captains, who then answered directly to whoever commanded the war-host.

Before she could comment on this fact, a warning began to flash along the edges of her HUD. It had started after she had taken only a few steps towards the main building, gaining her attention immediately. The area was a Darkness Zone. Judging from the distance her armour could detect it, the zone must cover the entire building itself, as well as most of the outer courtyard. She felt a moment's unease as she weighted up what this latest development meant, then realised that she should have guessed at its presence sooner. After all, five Guardians had died here trying to kill Zeksis. Their Ghosts would have been able under normal circumstances to revive the fallen Guardians, but the presence of the Darkness Zone prevented that. When you died in one, you stayed dead. From the lack of reaction she observed from the rest of the team, they must have all been expecting this, though Sonya wondered if they had realised just how big the zone was. Putting thoughts of death aside, she opened up an open channel to Valen, in order to discuss with him and the others what she had been thinking about earlier, before the alert had gone off.

"Valen, I'm a little worried about the lack of Fallen we're encountering at the moment. There should be more of them out here, guarding against attack. Sure, there were the forces out at the front, but I expected there to be more hostiles in the courtyards, ready to reinforce them. Something doesn't fell right."

"They are probably relying on their sentries on the walls to alert them when a Guardian gets close," stated Jonas. "As soon as someone is spotted, I'll bet this courtyard is suddenly swarming with the freaks."

Loken-12 spoke up from the rear, echoing Sonya's observation about the Darkness Zone they had just entered.

"I am surprised that the area this Darkness Zone covers is so large. Sure, I knew Rojas died in one of the outer courtyards, but I had assumed from the Speaker's briefing that he had then gotten further in before meeting his end. If the Zone does indeed cover the whole prison, then we must be extra cautious during our approach."

As the team got closer to the building's outer wall, Sonya tensed, ready for a sudden wave of enemies to rush out the nearby doors, so sure that they could not have gotten this close undetected. No movement was visible though, apart from the rest of the team. She saw Jonas prepping the grappling launcher just as Valen responded to Loken-12's concerns.

"I agree with Loken. The Zone presents a complication I had not expected to run into before entering the actual prison. We will need to be vigilant."

Sonya watched as Jonas aimed the launcher up towards the roof, pausing for a moment to allow its rangefinder to lock on. The Hunter fired the grapple, the projectile climbing into the sky towards its intended destination. After a moment, the grapple lost its upward momentum, just as it disappeared over the lip of the roof. Sonya heard a _'thud'_ up above, similar to the sound she had heard it make back at the wall, though the sound was accompanied by a clang against something metallic. Sonya heard the _'clank'_ of the electromagnet activating over Valen as he continued to speak.

"I've got a feeling that this next part is going to be a lot more interesting for us than we initially believed."


	4. Mission 1-3 - Silencing The Cannons

_The prison's anti-aircraft guns need to be silenced before confronting Zeksis himself._

Loken-12 pulled himself up over the edge of the roof, trusting his teammates to cover him whilst doing so. He had been the last to scale the side of the building they were infiltrating. They had crossed the courtyard without incident, which struck Loken-12 as odd. So far, the only Fallen they had seen at the prison had been the forces Jonas had spied at the front of the complex. That, plus the two they had avoided on the perimeter wall some thirty minutes ago. Considering the number of Fallen that were suspected to be at the prison, Loken-12 felt that they should have seen at least a few Dregs and Vandals frequenting the outer courtyards. Either their projections of the enemy strength was seriously off, or it meant that they were all inside the prison itself, which did not bode well for their chances of reaching Zeksis alive.

Not for the first time, Loken-12 was glad the Speaker had seized upon the idea of sending four Guardians on what was normally a three-Guardian mission. The extra pair of eyes and ears – not to mention the extra firepower that came with them – would increase their chances of locating the Devil Prince and eliminating him, preferably before the masses of Fallen descended upon them. He glanced up at Jonas, noting how the Hunter was scanning across the roof top with his sniper rifle, watching for any sign that their uninvited arrival had been discovered. To Jonas's left was Sonya, the Warlock similarly watching for targets though the sights of her pulse rifle. A part of Loken-12's subconscious noted that it was a PSI Tepus III, a model he himself had once used for a time, before getting his hands on the Sahara AR3 auto rifle he now used.

When he had first started out as a Guardian 16 years ago, Loken-12 had exclusively used pulse rifles and scout rifles, preferring to use his machine gun to deal with massed numbers of enemies at mid-range. These days however, he carried a rocket launcher – a Jester SA/3 to be exact, which he used to deal with heavily armoured targets like Devil Walkers. He had found that when he made the switch to the rocket launcher that he needed a more rapid firing weapon for his primary firearm, and had learned through trial and error that the Sahara AR3 was the best fit for him. He knew that Sonya now also carried a rocket launcher like him – she had mentioned it during the briefing when the topic of heavy ordinance was posed, though he was not sure what kind. He knew she used to carry a machine gun for a while, having worked with her a few times over the last couple of years, but was glad she had made the switch like he had. The added firepower was sure to come in handy.

He didn't know what Jonas was carrying, be it another rocket launcher or a machine gun, though he did know that Valen carried a Genghis-C machine gun. He tended to use it for mowing down large groups of Fallen, or against a tough target like a Fallen Captain. As he contemplated this, he watched Valen move off a few paces to the right, his weapon raised like the others. Loken-12 was glad Valen had been chosen to lead the team. Having worked with his fellow Titan for years he knew he could count on him to lead them well. Although Loken-12 did admittedly have four more years' experience as a Guardian than Valen, he had known from near the beginning of their working relationship that Valen was the more tactically-minded one between them, an artefact from his years in the Luna Guard.

Loken-12 raised his own weapon, opening a channel to the rest of the fireteam.

"I'm up and clear. Anyone seen anything of interest yet?"

It was Jonas who first answered him, turning back towards the Exo and walking over to where the grappling hook was secured. He shut off the magnet, then coiled up the cable.

"Nothing yet, and I've been watching since I came over the edge. It's quiet." He paused, then added, "Too quiet".

Valen spoke up.

"Both Sonya and I were thinking the same thing during our approach from the perimeter wall. There should have been Fallen reinforcements in the courtyard, ready to repel an attack. I've got a bad feeling that once we get inside we're going to find ourselves up to our asses in Fallen." He began stalking back towards the rest of the team, weapon lowered. "Let's take the approach to the anti-aircraft guns slowly. I can't see Zeksis leaving those things unmanned, regardless of the disposition of his forces."

Loken-12 nodded, noticing Sonya was doing the same. Valen gestured for Jonas to take point, falling in behind the Hunter, as Loken-12 took up his position at the rear. He kept glancing left to right, tracking his auto rifle in whichever direction he looked. So far, he had yet to see anything, though as they approached the side of the Fifth floor that dominated most of the roof, he began to hear something moving up ahead. The others had obviously heard it too, each slowing as the came to the side of the wall, which stood about three metres tall and had a number of windows with broken glass in their frames. Glancing through the windows, Loken-12 could see what looked like the remains of the prison guard's quarters, made up of numerous bedrooms punctuated by the odd office space as well as a cafeteria. One window was heavily barred though. Loken-12 saw a series of empty gun racks when he looked through, indicating the room had been an armoury.

Jonas glanced along the sides of the wall, then pointed towards something attached to it about 50 metres to their left. Following the wall towards whatever it was Jonas had seen, the team continued to hear more sounds of activity coming from on top of the main roof. It sounded like multiple sets of feet moving around up there, punctuated by the odd snarl or snort. Getting closer to the object Loken-12 saw it was a two-tier set of stairs, leading up to the main roof. The stairs looked like they had not been used in a while, the rusted-over steps covered in bits of metal here and there.

"Jonas, you're must be the most sure-footed one amongst us. See if you can take a look at what we are dealing with up there," ordered Valen, gesturing at the stairs. Jonas acknowledged him, setting off towards the stairs at a trot, whilst Valen directed the others to move in and flank him. True, the whole team could simply jump upwards onto the raised roof, using their various abilities to achieve enough height to clear the wall. But without being able to see exactly what they would be jumping up into, they ran the risk of revealing themselves prematurely to the enemy. Besides, the stairs provided a stealthier approach to the roof, assuming they managed to ascend the steps without disturbing the detritus that they were covered in.

Loken-12 watched as Jonas picked his way carefully up the steps, placing his feet so as not to knock anything that could roll off and make a noise. Of course, given the dilapidated state of the stairs, Loken-12 was more than a little concerned that they -

A step groaned loudly as Jonas put his weight down on it. In the silence of the night they were in, the noise sounded as loud as a gunshot to the fireteam. Loken-12 winced, his half-formed thought suddenly proven correct. The old staircase was rusted through enough that any extra weight in the wrong place could cause it to give a little, enough to make such noise as to potentially give away their position. Jonas froze in place, his foot only conveying half his weight onto the step that might have just announced their presence to the Fallen. Loken-12 strained his ears and listened, waiting for any tell-tail signs of a Dreg approaching the stairs to see what had caused the noise. He imagined the rest of the team were doing the exact same thing, and he suddenly wondered what order Valen would give if they did indeed hear the Fallen getting closer.

Would he order them to fall back and hide? Or jump up over the wall and engage the enemy? Both plans had their drawbacks. There was precious little place for them to conceal themselves behind. The wall could be used, so long as the enemy did not walk straight up to the edge and look down, an unlikely outcome indeed. There was a small structure about 10 metres away from the wall, housing the remains of a set of propellers that must have been part of the ventilation system. The three Guardians not on the stairs could potentially make it behind the structure before an inquisitive Dreg got close enough to see them, but what about Jonas? He would definitely not make it in time, and if he tried rushing down the steps he'd already gone up, then he would make further noise and bring the whole lot of the enemy down upon their heads. As for popping up over onto the raised roof to fight, the resulting firefight would alert the enemy to the fact that their base's perimeter had been breached.

After about a tense minute or two of waiting and listening, Loken-12 was sure he heard no change in the sounds coming from above. He saw Valen nod towards Jonas, the Hunter nodding back before slowly taking his weight off the treacherous step, then placing it down carefully on the new step up. He began to continue up the stairs, eventually reaching near enough the top to look over the rim of the roof. He brought his head slowly up over the edge, high enough to see. After a couple of moments he brought his sniper rifle up into a firing position and gazed down the scope. He looked firstly off to the left for a few minutes, before switching to his right. Finally, he seemed to focus directly ahead of him for a few moments, before he lowered the rifle again, opening a com channel to the whole team.

"I can see the main emplacement where the plasma cannon should be," he reported. "There's nothing there but a few crates. Off to the left is one of the two laser cannons; it looks to have a crew of two Dregs manning it, along with a Vandal overseeing them. There's four more Dregs on patrol around the cannon's perimeter. The cannon off to the right has the same setup. The gun crews at both are just sitting there, waiting for orders."

Sonya was the first to respond.

"Are the two groups within sight of each other?"

"No, the central gun emplacement is raised up about a metre and a half, plus the crates in the centre obscure their sightlines further. We could take out one group silently before moving on to the next. Would have to be quick though, as whichever group we go after might try to alert the other. We'd also have to be pretty quiet, as the two groups are within earshot of each other."

Valen spoke up.

"Can we get up onto the roof without attracting attention?"

"Sure, I can get in behind a stack of crates that are just off to the left near the edge, then lower the cable down for you can climb up. Suit thrusters would be too noisy. Sonya could glide up on her own, but if I'm lowering the cable for the rest of you, she might as well climb up that way too." He pointed off to the left as he spoke, to where the crates must be.

Loken-12 waited for Valen to make the decision before moving. It WAS his call after all, but it seemed to Loken-12 that this was a good strategy. They could climb up the side, then sneak in and take the Fallen down quickly before they knew they were under attack. It would be just like back at the highway, only this time he imagined that Jonas wouldn't be going in alone. Although he and Valen were both Titans they had pulled off sneak attacks like this silently in the past. They could deal with the perimeter guards whilst Jonas and Sonya focused on the gun crew. It sounded like a good plan.

Eliminating the guards and gun crew took longer than Valen expected. Mostly the time was taken up with getting everyone in position a simultaneous strike. The crates they had used as initial cover as Jonas had helped them up were not the only ones scattered about the place, so it was a simple task to plan out their paths of approach, shifting from cover to cover until they were ready to attack. Valen had gone over the plan twice with them, in order to ensure that everyone knew what their part was. The four of them would each pick off one of the four guards patrolling the perimeter, then Jonas and Sonya would close in and eliminate the gun crew. The hard part was keeping out of the guard's field of view as they moved into position. It took 6 minutes once they set out from the cover of initial hiding place.

Valen signalled the rest of the team that he was in position and ready. Jonas had already signalled his readiness, not surprisingly. He had been the first to get into position, with Sonya signalling two minutes later. A few moments after his own signal, Valen received Loken-12's conformation. He opened the team's shared channel.

"Ok, we're all set. Jonas, you move in first. Sonya, you and I strike next. Loken, you'll need to take the last one out before he notices his pals are missing."

"Copy that."

"Affirmative."

"Understood."

As each fireteam member acknowledged his orders, Valen focused on the sound of the approaching Dreg. From watching them patrol for a few minutes, the team had determined that the Dregs stuck to the same route every time they began another circuit of the gun emplacement. The Dreg Valen was set to kill would pass by the crate he was in cover behind, where he would then move out and strike from. The place he was to kill the Dreg in was behind another, larger crate, which served to create a blind-spot to the other Fallen. The other creatures would only see it's corpse if one of his fellow teammates failed to kill their target quickly enough. The same would be the case if Valen failed to kill his target.

Valen tensed as the Dreg's footfalls came closer, running through in his mind the actions he would need to take. He would move out from behind the crate just after the Dreg went past, snag his left arm around its neck, then place his right hand on top and then – with one sharp twist, snap its neck. The Dreg mustn't be given enough time to struggle, or the chance to make a sound. He HAD done this before, a few times in the past, so he was confident he would succeed. He knew that Loken-12 was familiar with this sort of 'wet-work' as well, and Jonas had already demonstrated his skills. He wasn't sure if Sonya had done anything like this before, but she HAD worked with Jonas before, so it was possible that they had pulled off a double silent kill here and there. Only time would tell.

"First guard is down."

Jonas had struck. Now it was his and Sonya's turn. The Dreg came into view a couple of seconds later, passing by his hiding place exactly like it had done the previous times whilst he had been watching. He leaned back a bit to make sure he was not spotted, then rose from his crouched position as the Dreg began to move away. He came up behind the thing as silently as a mouse, bringing his left arm up and around the creature's neck just as he brought his right hand down onto its head. He felt the Dreg stiffen in alarm for a fraction of second as he got a good hold, then twisted its head sharply to the left. He heard an audible 'crack' and the Fallen went limp and sagged in his grip, held up only by his chokehold on it. Carefully, Valen lowered the Dreg to the ground, then spoke in to the open channel.

"Kill confirmed."

A second later, Sonya's voice filtered through the com system.

"Target one down. Moving into second position."

That meant she was lining up to take out one of the Dregs that made up the gun crew. There was one on each side, plus the Vandal on the side nearest Jonas. If everything was as it should be, then Jonas was already in position to take out the Vandal and the remaining Dreg one after another. Valen moved up to the crate he was using to hide the corpse of the Dreg he'd killed, then peered around slowly. For the last few minutes the Vandal had been stood over the Dreg near it as it fiddled with the power cables leading into the cannon's base. It seemed to Valen that there was something wrong with the cable, and the Vandal was forcing the Dreg to fix it, whatever it was. He thought he saw movement off to his left, just as Loken-12's voice came through loud and clear.

"Dreg neutralised. Ready to offer support if needed. "

That was what the attack called for the two Titans once they had killed their designated targets. They would be on hand ready to lend their fire support in case something went wrong. The movement Valen had seen resolved itself into Jonas as he stalked forward slowly with blade in hand, keeping low to avoid being noticed.

"Sonya, move in."

Valen watched as Jonas crept up behind the Vandal and, as quick as a flash, the Hunter's blade sliced through the Fallen's neck. The creature had been in the middle of saying something to the Dreg when Jonas struck, and was therefore cut off in mid-sentence. The Dreg sensed something was wrong, beginning to turn towards the Vandal just as Jonas flipped the knife in his hand and throw it with the same level of accuracy the he had demonstrated during the highway ambush. The creature died, the blade sticking out of its neck like a sore thumb. It sank to the floor unsupported as Sonya's voice came over the com system.

"Second target down. I'm clear."

Jonas responded as he lowered the Vandal to the ground at his feet.

"I'm done here too. Now then, shall we take a look at these emitters?"

Valen saw Loken-12 walk over towards them just as Sonya came round from the other side of the cannon. He approached where the Dreg had been fussing over the cable, looking down at what it had been doing.

"I think this cannon is currently out of operation, judging from the way the cables aren't even plugged in at the moment. Let's make sure to put it permanently out of commission."

Summoning his Ghost, Valen took a step towards what looked like the maintenance panel Sparky had spoken of. The rest of the team gathered around instinctively, watching.

"Sparky, is this the panel we want?"

"Correct, Guardian. Simply remove the screws holding it in place to gain access to the emitter's housing assembly. I will guide you from there."

Valen slowly undid the screws in the panel, dropping them to the ground as he went. There were four of them in total, one in each corner, and it took about two minutes before the final screw was removed and the panel was lowered to the ground. Inside, a grey case with a black handle was revealed. Sparky instructed Valen to pull the handle outwards, sliding the whole casing out on a set of rails. Looking at the now-exposed centre of the case, Valen saw a round disk about 10 inches wide, which held a series of 6 red crystals in a circle. Valen reached around and pushed gently against the back of the disk, which was also visible from the other side of the casing. The disk held for a moment, then popped out into his hand. It trailed a cable from its edge back into the housing, which Valen promptly disconnected with a tug.

Stepping away from the cannon, Valen placed the disk on the ground, then brought his foot down on it hard. The disk shattered, its pieces at the edges flying away from his boot. When he lifted his foot away, they could all see the 6 crystals were still intact, in amongst the shattered remnants of the housing. Valen picked up the crystals as he addressed his Ghost once again.

"Sparky, would these be of any worth back at the Tower?"

"Indeed, Guardian. I believe the Gunsmith would pay a fair price for each of them. More if you acquire the larger crystals from the plasma cannons too."

Valen thanked the little A.I, then turned to the rest of the team.

"Ok, that's one cannon down. Seven to go."

Sonya cocked her head to one side.

"Seven? So we're going after the plasma cannons too?"

"Dam straight, we are," he replied. "I don't like the idea of leaving a job half done. That, as well as the fact that the Fallen could still get lucky with one of those big guns, if we left them intact." He smiled behind his helmet. "Besides, the cash from the crystals will be a nice bonus. Now then, let's get the next cannon."

They proceed to take out the guards and crew around the second laser cannon, then repeated the same sabotage. Afterwards, they began to make their way to the next set of cannons, stationed on top of the northern section of the building. This time there was one plasma cannon to disable instead of one of the smaller cannons. The laser cannon had the same level of security as the first two, but the plasma cannon boosted two extra Dregs on patrol around the perimeter, as well as a Vandal leading them. The three-Dreg gun crew was overseen by a Fallen Captain in place of another Vandal, which just proved to Valen that the three plasma cannons were more highly prized the others. They left the Captain until last, after silently dealing with the other Fallen around both cannons. His blue shield was stripped away by Sonya's fusion rifle, then a moment later – before the creature could react to the sudden sneak attack – Jonas placed a round straight through its head with his sniper rifle.

The team repeated the same process on the cannons again, though this time it took slightly longer with the plasma cannon. As Sparky had told them back on the cliff, the cannon had two emitters instead of one, each located in its own housing assembly. Both could not be opened at the same time, so therefore Valen had to remove the emitter arrays one after the other, recovering a large crystal from each. The next set of cannons posed more of a problem. Situated on top of the western section of the building – at the front of the prison complex in other words, the team had to eliminate the Fallen Captain as silently as the rest. There was a squad of Fallen out in the courtyard in front for the prison, well within earshot of the roof. Jonas had spotted them as the team had made their way around the edge of the building's roof. Valen had been planning on taking out the Fallen around the guns the same way as before. This however would have alerted the forces in the courtyard to their presence, due to the sounds of the weapons fire from Sonya's fusion rifle and Jonas's sniper rifle.

So, at Valen's direction, Jonas moved in close and employed the speciality of the Path of the Bladedancer; the Arc Blade. The weapon's energised edge sliced through the Captain's shield and consumed him in a flash of light. Valen had seen the technique employed before by other Hunters, most frequently by Clara. He knew that Jonas followed both the Path of the Gunslinger as well as the Path of the Bladedancer, but was surprised at how strong the attack was for someone who had split their time studying both paths. With the Captain dead, they set about sabotaging the cannons and retrieving the crystals. By now the four had agreed that they would sell all the crystals to Banshee-44 in one go, then split the money four ways. It was only fair, after all.

The final two cannons were located on the southern part of the prison complex. At one point things nearly went disastrously wrong when a Dreg spotted the body of one of its fallen comrades. The Dreg had picked up its pace a little as it started its next circuit around the plasma cannon, having been yelled at by the Vandal leading it. This threw the timing of Jonas's attack off enough for it to get further ahead than had been planned for, the Dreg getting close enough to see the Vandal's dead body on the ground when it turned the corner around a crate. It opened its mouth to sound the alarm, but Jonas got there first, swiftly moving up behind it and hastily burying his blade into the back of its neck. The blade punctured deeply into its throat through the back of the neck. After that close call, the rest of the plan played out as intended. As Valen removed the final emitter array from the plasma cannon, Jonas remarked playfully that they were now all rich. This got a chuckle from Loken-12 as well as a laugh from Valen and Sonya.

Loken-12 tensed as Jonas opened the door ahead of them, glancing in to see a stairwell descending down to the next level. Jonas had spotted a door just after he'd finished off the Fallen Captain with his Arc Blade, around the front of the complex. It had led into the top floor of the building, which they had entered after taking a look over the side, into the inner courtyard located underneath the central structure. The team by now had agreed that the structure was the most likely place where they would find the Devil Prince, as it stood above the rest of the complex on its eight supports. Sonya had theorised earlier that it could have been the warden's office back when the prison had served its intended purpose. By now however, the whole fireteam had started referring to the black, ominous building at the centre as 'The Prince's Lair'. It made Loken-12 think of a spider's web, with a spider at its centre, waiting for its next meal to show up. It was an unnerving thought, to say the least.

The stairwell ahead of them led from the top floor to the next one down, which appeared to contain the upper-most level of prison cells that existed in the complex. However, the area the stairwell led the team down into was cordoned off from the rest of the level, connecting to a network of caged-off walkways. Valen had stated that the walkways had likely been used by the prison guards to patrol around the inside of the prison, without the risk of coming into contact with the prisoners themselves. They had found the remnants of what Valen had described as 'Riot Gear' just before they had reached the stairwell door, which upon closer inspection Loken-12 had discovered had been worn by someone when they had died; the poor soul's skeletal remains still present inside the padded armour. Valen had told him the armour was used when a prison riot broke out, when the guards needed extra protection against whatever improvised weapons the inmates had gotten their hands on. For his part, Loken-12 could not remember anything prior to becoming a Guardian when his Ghost had revived him. Like all of the Exos he had met since his awakening, he had no memory of the life he had had before this one.

Jonas led the team down the walkway slowly, halting whenever he heard anything. They moved along whilst crouching down to keep a low profile, so it was slow going. It was past midnight now, with most of the war-host no doubt sleeping somewhere in the lower levels of the prison. There were a few however that had chosen to sleep on this upper floor, using the cells as their own bedchambers. A few Dregs patrolled along the outside of the cell doors every so often, but none looked up towards the walkways above. _"Sloppy of them,"_ thought Loken-12, as he watched another pair of Dregs pass by along the opposite side of the area they were in. _"I imagine they would get the beating of their lives if Zeksis ever caught them doing such a poor job. Still, I'm not complaining."_

Jonas suddenly came to a stop a little ways ahead of them, speaking over the shared channel.

"There's a sign up ahead, about 40 metres away. The writing is too faded to make out, but there is a big white arrow pointing off to the left. What you want to bet that's the place where we'll find the man of the place himself?"

"It sounds like a good enough piece of reasoning to me," said Valen. "Lead on, Jonas, but stay vigilant. If this does lead to Zeksis, you can be sure the approach will be heavily guarded. Loken, keep an eye on our rear. If things suddenly go wrong I don't want us to start backing up only to find ourselves bumping into a patrol."

"Understood," Loken-12 replied, glancing back behind them before moving off to follow the others. At 30 metres from the sign, Loken-12 thought he heard something off to the right and ahead, but he couldn't see anything. At 25 metres the fireteam was near-level with the source of the sounds, which was over on the opposite side of the walkway they were on. At 20 metres the source of the noise suddenly revealed itself to the team in a flash of white light to their right. One of the cell doors on the opposite side was sliding open on rusted railings, revealing a surprised looking Vandal staring at them in shock. The Vandal's cell – or bedroom as the Fallen was most likely using it as – had a light source on inside, which illuminated the walkway as the solid metal door was pulled back, bathing the whole team in its light. The Vandal's eyes were wide in alarm, its gaze locked on the Guardians before it.

As the Vandal's expression began to morph from one of surprise, Jonas was already in motion, drawing his knife and bringing his arm back in preparation to throw it. He was too late. The Vandal opened its mouth and let out a screech that reverberated around the confines of the cell block they were in, echoing out in both directions loud enough to wake the dead.

"Shit!"

Loken-12 silently agreed with Jonas's tactful analysis of their current situation. In the space of a moment the game was up. The Fallen knew they were there. A piece of bad timing and the nature of the mission was now altered. Gone was the slow and silent approach. It had served them well this far, but now speed and strength were needed. The fireteam would now 'go active' as he had heard Valen describe on more than one occasion.

A moment later a burst of weapons fire erupted from just ahead of him, and the screeching Vandal fell to the ground, a number of holes smoking in its torso. Sonya had opened up with her pulse rifle, nailing the Fallen dead centre, the killing shot having silenced the creature's noise as much as its life.

"Weapons free!" shouted Valen as Loken-12 heard the footfalls of numerous hostiles coming towards them, from both ahead and possibly from behind. He turned to cover the rear as three Dregs appeared, coming down the pathway beneath them, running flat out. They were staring straight ahead, not yet realizing the threat was not just ahead of them, but above them too. The sounds of more Fallen could be heard coming up behind them, and Loken-12 realised that they could soon be overrun if they did not do something quickly.

"Hostiles at the rear!" he called out as he took aim at the lead Dreg approaching. He tightened his trigger finger, firing his Sahara AR3 in a short burst aimed at the Fallen's head. Its helmet held for a moment under the first couple of rounds that hit it, before its strength failed and the remaining rounds ploughed into the alien's head. The Dreg died before its body hit the ground, knocked back off its feet by the impact of the rounds.

The two other Dregs skidded to a halt, confused for a moment as to where the shots had come from that had killed their companion. Loken-12 used that moment's hesitation to put another Dreg down on the ground, its chest riddled with a half-dozen shots, centre mass. The third Dreg finally realised where the threat was coming from and began to raise its pistol towards the walkway. It got off one shot that missed before Loken-12 ended its life with a third burst from his auto rifle.

As the noise of his gunshots died, Loken-12 became aware that the rest of the team was also firing. More Fallen had appeared out of the cells on the opposite wall, a mixture of mostly Dregs backed up by a trio of Vandals. Valen and Sonya were laying into them with their primary weapons, whilst Jonas was picking off the Vandals with his sniper rifle. Suddenly, Jonas swung round towards the direction the team had been going in, switching to his hand cannon swiftly and firing off all six rounds in rapid succession. Loken-12 heard two '_thuds'_ up ahead as Valen called out over the com system.

"We need to keep moving! Jonas, head for where the arrow is pointing, we'll follow. Get moving, people!"

Loken-12 got up from his crouched position and followed as the others began to run towards the sign up ahead. The sign was pointing down a walkway that took them in a direction towards the centre of the complex, towards the building they all reckoned was both the former warden's office and the Devil Prince's current lair. Jonas took the corner at a run, skidding slightly as he surged ahead down the new walkway. As Valen and Sonya made the turn as well, Loken-12's view ahead of him was suddenly no longer obstructed. He saw the bodies of two Vandals lying dead on the ground just past the turning, each with a trio of holes in their chests. _"So that's what Jonas was shooting his hand cannon at,"_ he mused. The Hunter must have just emptied the clip of his sniper rifle when he spotted them, and had drawn his Mos Ganon III instead of reloading. Focusing on what lay ahead, Loken-12 put the Vandals from his mind as he too rounded the corner, following the others.

Ahead, Jonas was running towards a reinforced red door marked 'Prison Staff Only Beyond This Point' in big black letters. Without slowing down, the Hunter put three rounds from his hand cannon into the door's corroded keypad and lock, before shoulder-barging his way through the door. The others followed him into a corridor that led upwards at a 30 degree angle, the remnants of a blacked carpet muffling their footfalls as they ran towards the door at the other end. There were large windows on both sides, all along down the length of the corridor. Each window featured a set of vertical bars inside its frame, along with the shattered remains of the glass panes that once filled them. Loken-12 realised that this was the corridor that connected the central structure to the rest of the prison. They had seem it from the outside when they had been looking down from the roof at the structure, as well as the courtyard below. The yard had mostly been in shadow, unwilling to reveal what it contained, but Jonas had thought he had heard movement down there. It was not considered important though, as they had no plans to descend to the ground floor of the building, much less go out into the central courtyard.

The team entered through the door leading into the central building and immediately knew something was wrong. For starters, the room they had entered was definitely not the warden's office. It appeared to be the main control room for the whole prison itself. There was row upon row of monitors mounted on the walls, most likely used for keeping an eye on the detainees. Numerous computer consoles were stationed in front of the banks of monitors, a couple of them still 'manned' by the skeletal remains of their previous users, sat on swivel chairs in front. The centre of the room was dominated by more computer consoles, arranged within a horseshoe formation facing towards them. A couple of large barred windows with no glass in bracketed the room. Near the back, an upper level was visible, cordoned off by a dividing wall that featured a large window pane at its centre. Unlike the other windows they had seen around the prison, this window still spotted an intact pane of glass, rather than shattered fragments. Two doors on either side of the window allowed access to the room, both having a set of 3 or 4 steps leading up to them. Loken-12 wondered if that room was the warden's office. Either that, or it belonged to someone else of importance, perhaps the chief of security. He couldn't see what lay within the room itself; the window was a little too high up to allow them to see in properly, plus it was dark in the room, like the control room was currently.

What was wrong was that it was clearly evident that no one had been in this room for a long time, maybe not since the collapse itself. There was a thick layer of dust on the ground that had no signs of having been disturbed recently, or ever to be exact. Zeksis was not here; had never been here even, which meant that the team's prediction that the Devil Prince would want to situate himself at the centre of the prison had been off. Loken-12's mind began to whirl as he tried to think of where the target would call its lair, if not here. The courtyard below, perhaps? But said place would be open and exposed to the elements, which made it an unlikely spot for the Fallen leader to set up shop in. Evidently, the other Guardians had been thinking along the same lines. Jonas was first to speak up.

"Dam, this can't be good. I wondered why that door back there looked rusted shut. Because it probably WAS rusted shut until I charged right through it!"

"No one's been here in a long time," commented Sonya. She moved over towards the horseshoe of computer desks at the centre of the room, moving around the back until she reached the opening. She walked up to the central console and pressed a few buttons. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. The power supply had long since given out. Even if the prison had its own emergency generator – which given the nature of the place was likely, then it would have been exhausted centuries ago. Valen walked forwards, joining Sonya behind the computer console she currently stood at.

"It's clear that the Fallen never bothered to force their way in here," he began, "which leaves us with just one important question to answer: just where the hell is Zeksis?" It was clear he was angry, though Loken-12 knew his anger was directed inwards towards himself, rather than at any of the team. Valen was the team leader; his decisions had led them here, which meant that he felt it was his fault the success of the mission was now in jeopardy. Loken-12 turned back towards the door they had just come through. The walkway it led from was separated from the rest of the prison areas by a series of strong metal fences, so the Fallen would have to navigate around them in order to then follow the team in. That would take time. Those two Vandals Jonas had killed must have already been on the walkway when the alarm was sounded, hence their quick arrival.

Through the doorway, Loken-12 could see that no Fallen had as yet made it to the corridor, but that fact could change at any moment. The team had backed themselves into a corner without realising it, and now they would have to hold off the entire war-host until they found a way out, or died. He opened up a channel to the others.

"Regardless as to whether Zeksis is here or not, we will soon most likely have company. We should decide upon our next course of action, and quickly. If Zeksis is not in this structure, then he must be somewhere else. Anyone have an idea where the rat could be hiding?"

Sonya stated a little a few moments after Loken-12 finished speaking.

"Where any rat would hide; down a hole! The inner courtyard is in the centre too, with far more space than in here. I bet that's where Zeksis is!"

Jonas was nodding whilst Sonya was talking.

"It makes sense. If Zeksis based himself here then there would only be one major escape route. Down there he probably has two or three ways out to choose from. I say Sonya's right. Checking the courtyard has got my vote."

The sound of running feet caught Loken-12's attention. It was faint but clear, and getting closer by the second. He reckoned they had about a minute before the Fallen swarmed up the corridor and attacked.

"If we are going to do something," he stated, "then we should get moving now. I can hear them coming."

Valen had been silent since his earlier outburst. Now, he looked over at Sonya, then Jonas.

"Alright. We check the courtyard. Jonas," he said as he pointed towards one of the barred windows, "take a look and see what you can see. If there's any sign of Zeksis, then we'll break through the window and jump down. Go!"

Jonas started towards the window, whilst Sonya and Valen headed over to join Loken-12 at the door. Loken-12 crouched down in front to give them a better firing line. He heard Valen mutter something about a last stand, but was too busy focusing on the far door to take notice. Jonas must have reached the window, his voice suddenly breaking the silence that had descended upon them. The only sounds up until now had been the tread of the many, many Fallen heading their way.

"It's pretty dark, but I can see something moving down there. A number of small shapes that could be Fallen. There's some kind of structure at the far end; doesn't look like it was always there. There's movement at the front. I think –"

He didn't have time to finish the sentence, as suddenly there was a loud, deafening roar, followed by a boom. The building shook. The large window pane dividing the raised office from the main control room exploded inwards towards them, showering everywhere in glass. Bits of rubble and debris flew through the now-wrecked window, followed by a wave of noise. Loken-12 found himself knocked off his feet for a moment, before his training kicked in and he was up again, assessing what had happened. Valen and Sonya had like-wise been knocked to the ground as well, as had Jonas. He however was already getting back to his feet like Loken-12 was, his weapon raised. Loken-12 looked towards the rear of the structure, seeing through the window that the rear wall of the office had simply disappeared. A large, jagged hole now featured across at least 80% of the back wall of the room, with the odd bit of rubble hanging loosely here and there. Something kind of explosive had been used from the outside, most likely in an effort to kill the four Guardians inside. Loken-12 knew that with the anti-aircraft cannons having been disabled, there was only one or two weapons that the Fallen possessed that could do that kind of damage.

Jonas was already on the move, rushing over to the rear doorway closest to where he had been standing. The door itself had been blown off by the overpressure of the impact, and was now lying on the ground a few metres into the control room. The other door had taken a pounding too, but was still attached to its frame, although it was only hanging by one hinge loosely. The Hunter slowed as he reached the steps up to the doorway, then crept up them stealthily. As Valen and Sonya picked themselves up off the floor, Loken-12 turned back to the corridor with his weapon raised, in case the attack had been part of a diversion. Sure enough, a group of Dregs – led by a Vandal at the front – were coming up the corridor at a slow pace. They were probably weary about the state of the structural integrity of the control room, following the blast. He targeted the Vandal leading them and fired, bringing it down before it could get a shot off.

"Contact! Coming up the corridor!" he yelled. A burst of fire from a pulse rifle let him know that Sonya had joined in the defence. Her shots tore into the Dreg that found itself out in front of the group, now that the Vandal in charge was dead. It was thrown backwards into the Dregs behind it, who parted to allow the corpse of their deceased comrade fall to the ground. They continued to advance, firing their pistols as they came. Their shots pinged off the Guardian's armour whilst Loken-12 continued firing, bringing down another two Dregs. He heard Jonas's voice over the com system.

"Bullocks! They've got a Devil Walker down there. That must be what they shot the building with! It will most likely fire again once the Fallen coming up the corridor are forced back, assuming it doesn't fire beforehand."

Valen's voice cut in.

"Do you see any sign of Zeksis down there?"

"Not right now, but there's a large series of shanty town shacks set up over where the Devil Walker is. What you want to bet that's where he is, bunkered down whilst his walker has fun taking pot-shots at us!"

"Then it's decided then," said Valen. "We'll use the hole the walker's made to descend down to the courtyard before it fires again. Loken, throw a flashbang grenade down the corridor next chance you get. That should slow them down briefly. Once that's down, you and Sonya withdraw towards the hole. As soon as you reach us I'll throw my own flashbang down into the courtyard. That should buy us the time needed to descend."

"Understood," Loken-12 replied, firing another volley towards the Fallen. He and Sonya had by now cleared out the first group of Dregs that had been approaching, though a second lot where already coming up behind them. The two Guardians were crouching side-by-side, taking it in turns to fire. He reloaded his auto rifle, then opened a channel to Sonya.

"Get ready to run when I give the signal."

"Got it."

He rose up from his crouch, firing as he did. Sonya rose with him. His last shot sent a Dreg spinning into one of its allies just as the other creature fired, taking a second volley from its own kind full in the chest. The dying Dreg collapsed onto its friend, knocking it to the ground as it friendly-fire peppered its insides. Loken-12 prepped a flashbang grenade, flicking the safety off with one practiced move. He pulled back his arm as he yelled "grenade out!" over the still-open channel. He threw the grenade towards the Fallen as far as he could, the spherical device bouncing once before detonating right in front of the Vandal in the lead. The grenade created a blinding light and a loud boom right in the creature's face, which shrieked loudly in distress as it staggered back into the Dregs behind it. One of them – possibly the dimmest one in the group, must have thought it was suddenly under attack. It fired its pistol right into the Vandal's back, causing unseen damage to its leader's armoured hide.

"Go!"

Loken-12 turned and ran, Sonya a couple of steps in front of him. As he crossed the room towards where Jonas and Valen waited, he could see that Valen had switched over to his Genghis-C machine gun, holding it in one hand as he prepped his own flashbang. Jonas had his sniper rifle out again, and was scanning for targets down it the courtyard. Sonya vaulted over the rim of the broken window into the devastated office, Loken-12 following behind her a moment later. Valen looked over towards the two of them as they approached.

"Ready?"

Loken-12 nodded, at the same time as Sonya acknowledged him verbally. Valen turned and threw his flashbang far outwards into the courtyard as far as he could. Jonas lowered his rifle and looked away as the grenade bounced, then went off in a flash of blinding white light. The noise from the grenade was muffled a little by the distance, though the majority of the deafening roar was muted by the auto-dampeners inside the Guardian's helmets. When Loken-12 glanced over the edge of the hole in the wall, he saw a number of Fallen staggering around in the fading light of Valen's flashbang, a couple bumping into each other at one point.

"Jump!"

Loken-12 obeyed Valen's order without hesitation. He had known Valen a long time, so he trusted his judgement. He leapt out of the building and began to drop, cutting in his suit's thrusters about half way down. He landed softly on the courtyard ground, which was for the most part was flat and solid, though there was a few plies of detritus scattered about the place, more than just the rubble from the damaged structure he had just vacated. He focused on a group of Dregs directly in front of him, mowing them down with his auto rifle whilst they were still suffering the effects of Valen's flashbang. To his right, Sonya and Valen landed on the ground a moment after he had, Valen using his suit's thrusters like him whilst Sonya – being a Warlock – simply glided down. A moment later, Jonas joined the team to Loken-12's left, sniper rifle rising to take out a pair of nearby Dregs who were just starting to get it together again. He heard Sonya's pulse rifle firing off to his right, though Loken-12 never saw what she was aiming at, or whether her shots connected. Valen – for his part, was scanning the area, judging the terrain that they now found themselves in. After a moment, Loken-12 did the same.

The courtyard was about 150 metres in diameter. As the team had seen earlier from the cliff, it was perfectly octagonal, the walls solid and stained red with the same dirt and rust as the rest of the outer walls. There were a few patches of red here and there that Loken-12 could have sworn was blood, though how fresh they were was anyone's guess. He didn't know if blood splatter from a prison riot centuries ago could have survived the elements for this long, and wasn't sure he wanted to find out. As his gaze swept 360 degrees around the courtyard, he realised that the shacks Jonas had spotted earlier were not alone. Numerous shacks lined the perimeter of the open space, at least two rows deep. There were two large structures at opposite ends of the place, the one ahead of them being where the Devil Walker must have been stored. Its front was one large open entranceway with no door, the visible space inside easily being big enough to house the war machine. Numerous Fallen were streaming out of the buildings – if the term could be used to describe the ramshackle structures lining the courtyard – from a number of directions. Although most were Dregs led by a handful of Vandals, a quartet of Fallen Captains appeared out from the other large building opposite the Devil Walker's.

As Loken-12 watched, a fifth figure strode out of the darkness enveloping the interior of the shack. Larger than the others, as well as carrying a potent-looking plasma cannon in its upper pair of hands, Loken-12 knew in that moment that Sonya had called it right. This Fallen had an aura around it that seemed to shout 'important', regardless of language. Its armour was far more ornate and impressive than even the Captains that flanked it, who surrounded it like a team of bodyguards. The way the other nearby Fallen looked towards this giant for guidance was further evidence that the creature standing before them could have only one identity.

It was Zeksis; Devil Prince of the Fallen. The monster they had come to slay.


	5. Mission 1-4 - The Devil Prince

_The team confront Zeksis, Devil Prince of the Fallen. Will they succeed?_

Valen watched as the Devil Prince strode up to a make-shift platform, set a few meters in front of the building he had just emerged from. The platform – or stage as it could also be called, was constructed out of the rusted roof of a super cargo transporter. It was similar to the one Jonas had stalked across the top of, back at the highway ambush. The stage was about eight metres long and three metres wide, giving enough space for at least a dozen or so men to stand on. It was raised a couple of feet off the ground by a set of concrete slabs, stacked one on top of the another. The stage had a roof made out of red tarpaulin strung between four long steel struts fixed into the corners, elevating it about three metres off the platform. There was nothing on the stage at the moment, no table or chairs, nor a microphone and stand. Although its construction was original, Valen had seen stages like this before, on the parade grounds back at the Luna base he had been stationed on prior to the collapse. There were for the higher-ups to give speeches from, as well as giving somewhere for visiting dignitaries to sit as watch the guardsmen matching. As Zeksis continued to move towards the stage, Valen's eyes moved from the platform to the building that the Devil Prince had just come out of a few moments ago, the same building as the four Captains.

Unlike the shacks on either side, this structure was far larger than the others, having been partly fashioned out of the front half of a bulky cargo shuttle. Several pieces of scrap metal sheeting had been used to enhance and extend the structure, turning it into what Valen theorised was the Fallen's command and control centre, along with Zeksis's personal quarters. Numerous electrical cables ran out from behind the structure, leading up the walls and splitting off into multiple directions. Valen was spared the time wondering what those cables led to, as a humming sound began to be heard over the noise of the Fallen massing around them. The whole courtyard was suddenly lit up from all around them, the light almost painfully bright after his eyes having adjusted to the darkness for so long. Valen could see that the cables ran from the building to a series of generators, which in turn fed power to a series of large spotlights stationed all around the perimeter of the courtyard. Some looking as if they had always been there, whilst others were clearly newer additions that the Fallen had set up themselves, having a jury-rigged appearance about them.

Zeksis had made his way onto the platform by now, accompanied by his escort. The four Fallen Captains bracketed him on both sides, the glow from their personal shields suddenly bleached out a little by the glare from all the spotlights. The powerful beams they shown left no part of the courtyard in darkness, though some areas behind the shacks were not as well lit as others. Zeksis's own shields glowed like his Captain's, although they were far stronger in radiance. The Devil Prince held his plasma cannon with a one-handed grip, gesturing with his other upper hand towards the fireteam. He began emitting a series of barks and low growls, which the Fallen on either side of the platform responded to by surging forward towards the Guardians, firing their weapons as they came. Behind them, Valen could hear the Devil Walker moving around to their left-hand side, lining up for another shot. Some of the debris from the damaged control room they had recently vacated had piled up between them and the walker, creating some temporary cover from its main cannon. Once it got around the debris however, it would bring its main weapon to bear on them. Valen gestured towards the debris.

"Get into cover! If that walker catches us out in the open then we're dead!" He started towards the debris, confident that the others were not far behind him. Bolts of energy flew through the air all around them, coming from the masses of Fallen heading towards them. He slid down into cover as a burst of plasma fire – most likely from Zeksis's plasma cannon judging from the direction, sailed overhead to impact against the far courtyard wall, creating a small crater. The others were with him a moment later, forming a defensive formation that covered each other's backs, using the debris to shield their blind spot. The others began exchanging fire with the oncoming hostiles as Valen summoned his Ghost.

"Sparky, how many exits are there from the courtyard on the ground level?"

"There are two such exits that I can detect, Guardian. They are located directly opposite each other, to the north and south of our current position."

That placed the exits to the sides of the courtyard, rather than behind either the Devil Walker's home or Zeksis's. That meant that in order to escape from the area they were in, Zeksis would have to break cover from the platform his currently stood upon, then cross open ground on a diagonal.

"Are you sure there are no openings behind the structure to the west?" Valen asked, indicating the building Zeksis had emerged from.

"Positive, Guardian. The floor plan provided to us by the Speaker shows the entire layout of the ground floor, as well as the upper floors. The walls are two metres thick and are reinforced with titanium bars that run from the ground up to the top floor. There is no indication that the structural integrity of the wall has been compromised there."

Valen thought this over for a moment. Whilst he did so, he took down one of two Vandals that was charging their position, cutting in to it with a sustained burst from his machine gun. The heavy rounds exploded within the Fallen's chest, spraying its comrade with its blood. The second Vandal was killed a moment later by a burst of fire to the head from Sonya's pulse rifle. By this point, Valen had come to his decision regarding their course of action. He opened the team's shared channel and outlined his plan.

"Alright, here's what we do. Sonya, Loken, you two focus on taking down the walker with your rocket launchers. Jonas and I will cover you to begin with, giving you both a chance to unload both barrels with your launchers. After that, one of you fires whilst the other relocates to a new firing position." He gestured towards the shacks all around the perimeter. "Use the shacks for cover and alternate your attacks, one shooting whilst the other reloads. Don't let its cannon get a bead on you. Jonas, once we've helped them out a bit, you and I will engage Zeksis's guards. Use your sniper rifle to engage at range. I'll move in closer and bring my machine gun to bear. Once the walker is destroyed, I reckon Zeksis will make a break for one of those two exists, so we need to focus all our firepower on taking him down once he starts moving. Any questions?"

He knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as he said it, knowing what the most likely response would be. Before he could do anything to stop what he knew was coming, Jonas spoke up in the same school kid voice he had used the highway, as well as also on the cliff. At least THIS time he didn't stick his hand up.

"Can I be the one to kill Zeksis, Sir!?"

Valen smiled, knowing that he'd walked right into that one. Although, this time round Jonas had asked a question that at least Valen could put to good use.

"Jonas, if you get a clear shot, be my guest. That goes for all of us too, although I doubt any one of us is going to be able to bring him down by going solo. It will take a team effort, clear?"

"CLEAR!" The response came from all three of them at one, simultaneously. It was a confronting sign, one that they were of one mind about what needed to be done. It reassured Valen, letting him feel as if they were ready for anything. Each member of the team brought something unique into the mix, the end result being a team that had so far overcome the challenges set before them. Jonas's skills as a tracker, scout and most of all a silent killer had saved the mission more than just a couple of times. Sonya's ability to consider alternate methods helped keep them on course, plus her Warlock abilities were very useful all round. As for Loken-12, Valen had come to known the Exo's capabilities long before now. His fellow Titan may not be as talkative as the others, but that never affected his ability to communicate what was needed. Plus of course, the fact that he carried one of the team's two rocket launchers was a BIG plus in his favour, especially when dealing with armoured targets like the Devil Walker he was about to face. Valen only hoped that they all made it out of this alive; working in a fireteam this size had brought back memories to him of his days as a Luna Guardsman, back on the moon.

For a moment he wondered if they could remain together in this team after the mission was complete. He'd have to seek permission from the Speaker about it, assuming that the Voice of The Traveler did not intend them to remain as one unit anyway. He shook off his thoughts and straightened up from his crouched position, weapon raised. He downed a group of Dregs with the remaining rounds in his clip, listening to the exchanges of weapons fire around him. As he had outlined his plan he had taken note of how close each Guardian was to the end of their clip. Jonas had just swapped to his hand cannon but had yet to shoot it, so was fully loaded. Sonya was just in the process of reloading, whilst Loken-12 was down to his last few shots. He started to reload his own weapon, knowing that he would take slightly longer than Loken-12 to reload his auto rifle, once he'd emptied his clip.

"Hold your fire for when we displace. Loken, once you've reloaded, switch to your rocket launcher. Sonya, do so now." He watched as she slung her pulse rifle, before shouldering her heavy weapon. "The walker is coming around from the left. Loken, Sonya, jump the debris and flank it from the rear. Once you've fired, head straight to the Devil Walker's shack and split up. Jonas and I will distract it with weapons fire. Jonas, we'll hold here until the walker starts to track the others, then lay into its legs. Ready?" He could hear the walker getting closer now, as well as the Fallen coming from the opposite direction. He finished reloading his machine gun, just as Loken-12 switched to his rocket launcher. He and the others acknowledged their readiness for what lay ahead.

"Ready!"

"Ready!"

"All set!"

Valen took a deep breath, let it out, and then spoke.

"Attack!"

Sonya leapt upwards, gliding over the debris she had been hiding behind. She saw the Devil Walker was almost in position to fire its cannon on the rest of the team. Its dorsal turret was already swinging around towards them, preparing to fire. It was much closer to them than she had realised – probably closer than Valen had too, so she took aim at the leg closest to her once she'd landed, and fired. The rocket shot out of the tube on a thick trail of black smoke, eating up the distance in a couple of seconds. It lanced into the machine just above the knee joint, causing it to stagger ever so slightly. The walker chose that moment to fire its cannon, but Sonya's sudden attack ruined its aim, sending the shot down into the ground a couple of metres away from the edge of their cover. The blast sent bits of dirt up into the air in all directions, showing her a little in mud on her right-hand side. Loken-12 landed on her left, going down in a crouch to absorb the impact of his landing. The Devil Walker recovered and began to track towards the two of them but the two Guardians were already moving, running towards a point several metres behind the walker, in order to keep out of its line of fire.

Sonya heard Valen open up with his machine gun, seeing sparks fly off the bulbous head of the walker as she ran. Two Dregs came running around from behind it just as the boom from Jonas's hand cannon sounded, dropping the lead Dreg in an instant. Sonya noted the smoking hole in its mask as she side-stepped to avoid its friend's return fire. A second later and two more booms sounded, cutting into the Dregs chest, killing it. She kept running, Loken-12 outpacing her by a few metres. The walker had abandoned its tracking of them by this point, having turned its attention towards the source of the shots striking its head; Valen. The turret focused on the Titan just as he and Jonas ducked back into cover. A moment later, the cannon spoke again. The blast hit the debris and blew a gaping hole in it, tearing through the ground on the far side to form a shallow furrow. Fortunately, Valen had moved to one side before the cannon round had hit, sparing him any injury. It sounded to Sonya though as if Jonas had been showered in dirt just like she had a few moments ago. She heard him causing over the open channel.

"Uh, bloody machine! Is it trying to drown me in mud!?" He proceeded to use a very colourful turn-of-phrase to describe the Devil Walker's pilot, before capping off three more rounds into a Vandal that was getting too close to Loken-12. He ducked back down to reload, before popping up again to fire at another target.

By this point, Sonya had caught up to Loken-12, who had positioned himself behind the Devil Walker, firing his rocket launcher into its side. She added the rocket she had remaining in the tube, then headed for the nearest shack for cover. This turned out to be the one to the left of the Devil Walker's hanger, as she had come to think of it. Loken-12 let lose his second rocket, then ran over to her as his shot struck the same point as before, just above and between its rear and centre right legs. He reached her position just as she finished reloading, then turned back to look at the damage they had caused.

"I reckon it will take at least another couple of salvos like that to bring it down. I've got enough rockets to do the job I think, but it will be quicker for us to both hit it one after the other. Do you think a Nova Bomb will speeds things up a little?" She knew Loken-12 was smiling behind his helmet; she could tell by the tone in his voice. As the team's only Warlock, Sonya was the only Guardian there who could employ the power of the Light in such a fashion, although she tended to use it more for 'crowd-control', rather than hitting armoured targets. Still, it couldn't hurt to send an attack its way towards the Devil Walker. She nodded.

"Only one way to find out." She took a few steps out of cover, then let fly with the power the Traveler had invested within her. The Nova Bomb was the speciality of the Path of The Voidwalker, which Sonya had dedicated most of her years as a Guardian to mastering. True, she had recently within the last year started learning the ways of the Sunsinger, but that time had not detracted or degraded her skills with the path she had chosen first. The attack took the form of a ball of purple energy, which she gathered within her right hand before flinging it towards the Devil Walker. The Nova Bomb struck the side of the machine in the same place that the rocket attacks had hit, showing just how skilled the Awoken was with aiming her attacks. The machine had been turning towards them since Loken-12's second rocket attack, which COULD have had the potential to throw off her accuracy, but Sonya's aim was true. As the walker's turret tracked towards the source of this latest abuse it was suffering, Valen's voice filtered over the com system.

"That's enough for now. Displace whilst I cover you. Loken, you go one way whilst Sonya goes the other. Jonas and I are going to focus now on the guards protecting Zeksis. Be sure to coordinate your attacks."

"Understood," came Loken-12's reply over the channel.

"Got it," Sonya acknowledged. She turned back towards the Titan behind her and nodded.

"After you."

Loken-12 shook his head.

"Ladies first."

Sonya smiled again, then took off past the shack they were using for cover, hearing Loken-12 run off around the hanger and in the opposite direction. She switched over to her pulse rifle as she ran, spotting a Vandal coming around the corner of a shack up ahead, followed closely by a couple of Dregs. She didn't stop as she opened fire, the bursts from her rifle tearing down the Vandal as well as one of the Dregs. The remaining Fallen returned fire, its shots skipping off her armoured side as she closed the distance. Now within striking range, she launched out with her knife, slashing across the Dreg's face in an attempt to blind it. The creature ducked back, apparently ready for the attack, then launched forwards with its own blade. The shock dagger glanced off her shoulder, her adversary not quite gauging its line of attack properly. Sonya brought her blade upwards towards its throat, using the creature's own momentum to impale itself upon her weapon. It was a trick Jonas had taught her years ago, back when they had first met. He had noticed that her close-quarter skills were not very good during their first mission together, so later he had taken the time to teach her the art of using an opponent's own actions against them.

The lessons had paid off well, especially now. Sonya's blade buried itself into the Dreg's throat, tearing upwards towards its chin before the alien's momentum was halted. Sonya withdrew the blade, letting the creature's dead-weight sink to the ground before she continued onwards. She had lost a few seconds dealing with that last enemy, putting her behind time. She was heading for a point near the exit that Valen's Ghost had indicated was there. It was along the northern wall somewhere, and she figured that she could position herself near it, lying in wait in case Zeksis tried to use it as a means of escape. She opened up a channel to the whole team and informed them of her intention, mentioning that Loken-12 could do the same thing at the southern end of the courtyard.

"Just watch out for enemy reinforcements coming in from inside the prison," cautioned Valen. "If they get in behind you then you'll be trapped between them and the rest already out here."

"Understood," replied Loken-12.

"I'll keep an eye out," Sonya echoed. She came across another group of Dregs, this time on their own with no Vandal guiding them. There WERE more of them however, five in total. She slowed to a jog as she pulled out a scatter grenade and threw it towards them, then ducked in behind a shack to her left. She'd figured she would let the grenades' sub-munitions deal with the majority of the enemy for her. A loud blast was followed a half second later by a symphony of alien screams, the explosives cutting the Dregs to pieces. She flanked round behind where the Dregs had been standing, ready to deal with any stragglers that had escaped the blasts. Only one had survived however, and it was in no condition to cause her any further trouble. She ignored the survivor, leaving it to suffer as she spied something that one of the others had dropped. It looked to be an Encrypted Engram for a weapon or piece of armour. Snatching it up, she resolved to take a closer look later on. For now, she headed towards where she planned to set herself up for taking down the Devil Walker.

A moment later she reached her destination, glancing around for any hostiles in the area. A couple of Dregs ran past her position, too focused on what was happening towards the west to notice her. She planted a burst of fire into the back of one of them, causing it to stumble, before both started to turn around. She finished it off with a second burst as the other Dreg opened fire at her. She ducked as the shots went wide above her, returning fire as she did. The rounds hit the creature in the face, killing it outright.

She was just killing time she knew, until Loken-12 was in position. She would not fire until he was in place and ready to distract the Devil Walker whilst she reloaded. A moment later, his voice came over the com system.

"I'm in position. Ready when you are."

"Understood. I'm taking my first shots now." She switched back over to her rocket launcher, then stepped out to take aim. The walker had been moving towards Valen's position again, evidently ticked-off by his attempts to distract it. She sighted on its rear – the only section of its torso that was visible from her angle – and opened fire. The rocket speared into the Devil Walker, knocking a couple of nearby Dregs off their feet with the blast. Before it could even react, Sonya sent her second rocket after the first. This shot went wide however, overshooting the machine on its left as it turned to the right. The rocket sailed on until it hit the building Zeksis had exited from earlier. The subsequent explosion must had damaged some of the cabling leading out of the structure, as some of the generators powering the spotlights suddenly shut down, plunging a half-dozen points around the courtyard into darkness. Sonya cursed under her breath, reloading as she contacted Loken-12.

"Dam it! I should have aimed further to the right! Wait until its turret is almost pointed at me before taking your shots. I'll do the same afterwards."

"I hear you. Taking my first shot now." Sonya saw a shape detach itself from a shadowed area on the other side of the courtyard, just before a plume of black smoke signalled Loken-12's attack on the walker. His aim was true, hitting the same area they had earlier targeted on the side. Sonya watched as the section snapped open, venting smoke from the damage. She cried out in exuberance. They were doing it! The damage was building up enough to cause the pilot of the Devil Walker to initiate an emergency venting, exposing the machine's vulnerable interior. A moment later and Loken-12's second rocket slammed into the exposed area, causing the entire walker to shudder. Loken-12 cheered out loud, punching the air.

"That's it! The machine is venting! Now's the time to press home the attack!" He ducked behind cover again to reload. _"We're doing it,"_ thought Sonya, as she watched the enemy contraption begin to pane back towards Loken-12's position. _"If we can keep it reacting to our attacks like this then the machine is as good as dead!"_ She raised her rocket launcher as she stepped out of cover, ready to open fire.

Jonas heard the cheers go up from Loken-12 and Sonya, just as he was sighting on his second Captain. He had already taken out one of the others with a trio of shots to the head with his sniper rifle, the first two having been absorbed by the alien's shield. The third had delivered the finishing blow. He had been distracted then by a wave of Dregs led by three Vandals that had hauled themselves towards him and Valen, headless of the danger. He had switched to his hand cannon and began picking off the Dregs with head and body shots. Valen meanwhile had holstered his machine gun and switched over to his Shingen-C auto rifle, hosing the Fallen down with long bursts of focused, disciplined fire. He was impressed with the skill the Titan was displaying with the weapon, watching briefly as Valen put a Vandal down with two bursts to the chest, before dropping a Dreg with a third to the head. Back inside the prison on the walkway, Jonas had not had time to watch Valen at work, having been too pre-occupied with clearing out the Fallen that had suddenly emerged from all over the place. He was beginning to rethink the opinions he had formed about the Titan. It was quite clear he knew what he was doing.

He had watched as Valen suddenly vaulted out of cover, running straight at a large group of about seven or eight Dregs led by a Vandal. Valen had called to him over the com system, telling him to be ready with his sniper rifle. He had then launched himself up into the air, coming down hard to smash his fists into the ground, employing the speciality ability associated with of the Path of The Striker: the Fists of Havoc. The shockwave of Arc Light released disintegrated all but one of the Dregs, which had been right on the edge of the blast zone. As Valen turned to deal with the survivor, Jonas had seen what Valen had been going for. One of the Fallen Captain's protecting Zeksis had started to move forward, heading straight for their position. The creature began firing its weapon towards Valen, who had called Jonas over the com and ordered him to take out the monster's shields. Jonas had complied, putting three shots into the creature's chest, wiping out its protective glow as the shields failed. The Titan had then opened up with his machine gun, shredding its armour and dropping it to the ground.

Now, Valen was engaging another lot of Dregs, buying Jonas time to take out a third Captain. He noticed that it carried a pair of swords, just like the ones the Captain he had first killed had been carrying. The creature must had seen him aiming at it however, as it dodged to the side as Jonas fired. The Hunter cursed as his re-aimed and fired again, only to miss as Zeksis himself moved into the line of fire, taking the shot instead. _"Odd behaviour,"_ Jonas thought as he put two more rounds in quick succession into Zeksis's chest. The Captains were supposed to protect the Devil Prince, not the other way round. His shots did little to dent the giant's shields, which were far stronger than the Captain's and could therefore take more punishment. Jonas had little time to consider this as Zeksis returned fire, his plasma cannon sending bolts of energy towards the Guardian's position at speed. Jonas dived to the side to avoid the shots, figuring that two could play at this game. He knew that the best weapon they had for stripping Zeksis's shields from him was Sonya's fusion rifle, but she was currently engaged against the Devil Walker and so could not help. His speciality – Arc Blade, was of no use at this distance, but Jonas smiled, remembering that he knew more than ONE speciality.

He focused himself on the Path he had started learning when he had first become a Guardian. As the Light focused around his right hand, he began to envisage the weapon he was forging in it. A flaming hand cannon made of pure light, known to Hunters as 'The Golden Gun'. The weapon took shape, forming itself into a revolver chambering three rounds of hellish power within. Valen must have seen what Jonas was doing, as he started firing his auto rifle at Zeksis, distracting him and weakening his shields by a small amount. Jonas settled his aim over Zeksis's chest, hovered there for a moment to ensure his aim was steady, then pulled the trigger on the ethereal gun three times. The first two shots stripped Zeksis's remaining shields in a bright flash, the third impacting against the armour that was now exposed underneath. The final shot staggered Zeksis, denting the armour where it had hit, though not penetrating. Jonas was not put off though. He knew it would take more than that to finish off such a foe as the Devil Prince.

Valen began to try and capitalize on the fact that Zeksis's shields were down. The Titan had switched back to his machine gun and was pumping an entire clip of heavy rounds into his chest plate, where Jonas had been targeting. As he emptied the clip, a swarm of Dregs came charging up from his left, pistols firing. Valen took a few shots to the torso, though his armour held together well enough as he backed off, throwing a flashbang to stun them. Jonas gave him covering fire as the Titan fell back towards a section of debris, part of the building above that had earlier collapsed during the fight. The timing had been perfect, the rubble dropping down onto a pair of Dregs that were too stupid to move out of the way, even when the first bits began to fall down onto of them. Then the main chunk had dropped like an anvil down on their heads, squashing them flat underneath. Jonas had felt a sense of poetic justice about that. It had been the Fallen's own war machine that had damaged the control room in the first place, and now some of its allies where paying the price.

Valen made it in behind the debris, ducking down as one of Zeksis's two remaining guards opened fire with its weapon. Its shots stitched a line of holes along the length of the debris, whilst Valen was hurrying to reload his weapon. The last Captain from the platform was armed with a pair of swords, so it could not join its friend in on the destruction. It began to move off its right, most likely trying to flank Valen while his attention was on Zeksis and the Captain shooting at him. A couple of Vandals joined it as Zeksis began to fall back behind the platform he had been stood on until now. Jonas opened a channel.

"Watch it, fearless leader. That Captain with the swords is coming around to flank you from the left. He's got friends too."

"What's Zeksis doing!?" was the reply.

"He's withdrawing behind the platform, probably to let his shields charge back up. I've got no shot. You want me to deal with the Captain coming your way?"

There was a purse as Valen weighted up the options.

"No, stick to taking out the remaining hostiles. Take a shot at the captain on the platform if there's a lull in the firing. I'll deal with my 'stalker' myself."

"It's your call, boss. Just don't miss the two Vandals with him or you're going to get your ass shot off." With that, Jonas readied his sniper rifle again, preparing to take another crack at the Captain still on the platform. It had been the one that Zeksis had thrown himself in front of, behaviour that Jonas was still at a loss to explain. He took careful aim, then stroked the trigger of the rifle lightly, sending a shot into the creature's shielded forehead. The beast began to immediately fire back at him, forcing the Hunter to leap from the debris he had been hiding behind as it collapsed under the attack. He rolled, then aimed another two shots at the Captain before being forced to move again. Both shots missed as the Fallen leapt off the platform and started towards him, weapon blazing. Jonas noticed that this Captain was a little different from the rest. Instead of the usual tattered cloak the others had been wearing, his was more ornate and far less damaged. It was also gold in colour, as opposed to red like the rest. Its movements were faster than the rest, plus it appeared to be a much better shot with its gun than the other had been. As Jonas slid over to another piece of debris, he switched to his heavy weapon; a Sargon-C machine gun. He hated having to use it, due to its lower level of accuracy when compared to his other weapons.

He brought the weapon up and opened fire on the golden-cloaked Captain, letting it have a full clip's worth. Just as its shields started to fail however, the dam Fallen teleported off to its right, taking it out of Jonas's line of sight and closer towards where Valen was. Fortunately, it was more concerned about staying in cover to regenerate its shields, rather than launching a sneak attack on the Titan. As Jonas moved around the edge of the debris he was using for cover, he realised that the Fallen Captain was using Valen as a deterrent against him attacking it. The creature was directly between the two Guardians, so if Jonas shot at – and missed, his target he ran the risk of hitting Valen. Valen was bogged down with fending off the swarm of Dregs that were still rushing him in waves, unable to move out of the line of fire. The Captain who had been sneaking up on his side lay dead on the ground, having not gotten close enough to bring its deadly swords into play. One of the Vandals was also dead, whilst the other was on the ground, wounded in the chest. Though still alive, it did not look like it was going to be for much longer.

Jonas's attention was brought back to the Captain he had been trading shots with. It emitted a throaty noise that sounded almost like a laugh to him, which set his blood on fire as he couldn't shake the feeling that the dam alien was laughing _at him_._ "Cocky bastard,"_ thought Jonas as the Captain started to reload its weapon. He watched as the strength of its shields starting to rise again on the tactical overlay on his HUD. He started reloading his own weapon, realizing that the Captain's sudden relocation had caught him off guard, enough to throw him out of his practiced routine of reloading after emptying his weapon.

The Captain would finish reloading long before him, so the Hunter ducked back behind the debris, thinking about his next move. He quickly summoned his Ghost whilst reloading, the small construct floating just low enough to not make itself a target.

"Ghost, got any suggestions on how I can take out that Captain without killing Valen?"

"Try flanking around the other end of the debris you are behind. The angle will put Guardian Valen out of the line of fire. You will need to be quick though, otherwise the enemy will relocate so that he is once again between you and your teammate." Jonas nodded, dismissing the Ghost as he prepared to face the Captain again. As he was coming out of cover though, his Ghost shouted a warning just as a sheering bolt of plasma energy flew past Jonas's head. The shot had not come from the Captain's last know position, but from up on the platform where Zeksis had taken cover behind. Sure enough, the blasted Devil Prince was stood up upon the platform again, its shields having been given enough time to fully recharge thanks to Zeksis's golden-cloaked minion. The Devil Prince fired off another shot at Jonas, then started moving forwards, jumping down the front of the platform just as the golden Captain had done. Zeksis moved forwards to link up with the Captain, shooting as he moved. Their combined weapons fire forced Jonas to keep his head down behind cover as they approached, and it occurred to Jonas that he was in danger of being overrun.

Just as Zeksis came up to the Captain's side, a grenade came flying in from their right, bounced, then exploded with a roar and a bright flash. It was Valen, Jonas realised. He must have seen the trouble that was bearing down on the Hunter and had thrown a flashbang to help him. The flash had blinded both Zeksis and his Captain, both of whom where staggering backwards away from the source of the bright light, arms raised as if to protect themselves. Jonas watched as Valen came out from behind cover, firing his machine gun at Zeksis. The rounds slammed into the Fallen's shields in a renewed attempt to break them. The attack on its own would not overload Zeksis's shields, but with Jonas's weapons fire added in, it would be enough. Jonas took aim and fired, not letting go of the trigger until the clip was empty. He noticed the Captain was raising its weapon towards Valen, obviously having recovered enough to see straight. Jonas didn't give the creature the chance to fire though. He threw an incendiary grenade straight at the Captain, the deadly package hitting it in the chest.

The grenade exploded, covering the Captain in flames all over. Its shields – having already taken damage from the flashbang – failed and the fire began to burn it directly. The Fallen let out a cry of pain, turning to run back towards the building it had emerged from at the start of the battle. Zeksis did not seem to notice it leave, still blinded from the grenade due to having been much closer when it had detonated. Jonas was just preparing to give it a few parting shots when a massive explosion went off at the other end of the courtyard. A cheer sounded over the com system, as Jonas realised that Sonya and Loken-12 had destroyed the Devil walker.

Which meant now that the whole fireteam could come together and concentrate on the task of finishing the mission; to focus on killing Zeksis.

Loken-12 heard Sonya cry out in delight as the walker collapsed, its pilot dead and the machine wrecked beyond repair. It had taken most of their rockets to fell the Devil Walker, though not all. He still had two left, though Sonya had used up the last of hers in the final salvo that had gutted the machine's insides. It had also taken longer than he had expected, due in part to the tactics they had employed to keep it off-balance. The main reason though was that about two-thirds of the way, a large number of Fallen reinforcements had started to enter the courtyard, coming in via the two entrances that he and Sonya where positioned in front of. Valen had warned Sonya of this possibility and she had passed on the warning to Loken-12. Even so, their sudden arrival still caught out the two Guardians. It was the sheer number of them that made it a problem, until Loken-12 had struck upon an idea. He had turned his rocket launcher on the section of wall just above the doorway, firing a single rocket that had caused it to collapse, sealing the way into the courtyard for good. He had then told Sonya to do the same thing at her end, firing his second rocket at the walker to distract it whilst she did so. Now, not only was the majority of Zeksis's forces prevented from coming to his aid, but also Zeksis himself could no longer leave the courtyard and escape. They had him trapped.

Loken-12 was now running towards where the rest of the fireteam was engaging Zeksis, along with the few remaining stragglers that were still alive. Sonya was a few paces ahead of him, due to the fact that he had been delayed by a Vandal that had tried to blindside him as he made his way past the shacks. He had not had time to reload his auto rifle, having gunned down the last Dregs that had come through the entrance before he'd sealed it up. He had switched to his Gravition ESM shotgun and pumped two rounds into the Vandal as it closed the distance. It had died less than spectacularly, just coming to a stop after the second shot to its gut, before keeling over. Loken-12 had reloaded the shotgun, then as he ran towards the others he reloaded his Sahara AR3, ready for the fight against Zeksis.

Up ahead, Sonya vaulted over some debris, briefly moving out of sight as she flexed her legs to absorb her landing. She had switched over to her fusion rifle, the best weapon they had in their shared arsenal at stripping away the Devil Prince's shields. Valen was busy engaging Zeksis with his machine gun, whilst Jonas was putting shot after shot into the target with his hand cannon. Loken-12 added his auto rifle fire to the mix as he came within optimum firing range, stitching a line of hits across Zeksis's chest area. The shields were still holding, but then Sonya opened up with her fusion rifle. The weapon emitted a flash of blue-tinted light as its round shot towards Zeksis. It collided with the outermost shields, eviscerating them mercilessly under its touch. Sonya fired again, this time bringing the Fallen's shields down completely. Valen was suddenly yelling over the com system.

"That's it! Hit him with everything you have, right now! That armour of his may be tough but it can't stand up to all four of us!" As if to emphasise his point, Zeksis's chest plate began to buckle and distort under the torrent of fire coming from Valen's machine gun. Loken-12's auto rifle fire added to the damage, his weaker shots more effective now that the shield was down. Jonas put round after round from his hand cannon into the same spot, coordinating his weapons fire with the other Guardians. Zeksis for his part was backing away from the assembled fireteam, firing his plasma cannon wildly as he tried to put them off shooting at him. His fourth shot came dangerously close to hitting Loken-12 in the side, but the Exo was able to quickly dodge, having had enough time to see the attack coming and to take action. Sonya continued to fire her fusion rifle at the Fallen, scoring a hit in his face that caused him to stagger again, disrupting his attempts at retaliation. Just as the chest plate started to give, Jonas abandoned using his hand cannon, summoning up his Golden Gun again and put all three rounds straight into Zeksis's chest.

The first shot smashed into the last remnants of armour covering the Fallen's upper torso, causing a large section to rip free and go flying off to one side. The second shot tore into the Devil Prince's chest area, burying itself in the meat of his body. Zeksis roared in pain, clutching at his ruined chest with two hands whilst trying to steady his weapon with the others. He managed one final shot that flew off aimlessly into the sky above him, just before Jonas's third and final shot with the Golden Gun hammered into his body, punching its way through into the creature's heart. The leader of the Fallen war-host dropped to his knees for a moment, before keeling over to land face-first into the dirt beneath him. Loken-12 watched as Jonas walked slowly up to the stricken creature, who was not moving. He kicked the body over onto its back, then put six more rounds into Zeksis's chest with his hand cannon.

The Hunter looked up at the rest of the team.

"Just making absolutely sure. As Sonya could tell you, I've had a seemingly dead enemy start moving again on more than one occasion. That's why I prefer aiming for the head most of the time. You're less likely to survive a round to the head than one to the chest."

Valen joined the Hunter standing over by the corpse of their enemy. Loken-12 and Sonya followed him after a moment's purse. They all looked down at the creature they had been sent here to slay, the creature that had been responsible for ending the lives of a number of fellow Guardians, including Jonas' mentor, Rojas. A feeling of satisfaction washed over Loken-12 as he inspected the results of their handiwork. Jonas's last few shots had blown the chest plate clean off, revealing the ruined flesh underneath. Valen knelt down and pulled off a section of plating that was hanging-on loosely to the rest. Standing up he gripped the piece in one hand, looking it over on both sides.

"I'll take this back as a memento. Jonas, seeing as you landed the kill shot after all, I think it's only proper that you take the helmet for yourself. I happen to know that Neith-26 from Fireteam Kraken tends to take the helmets of any Vandals or Captains she kills. You can impress your fellow Hunter with something I bet she doesn't even have; the intact helmet of a Devil Prince of the Fallen."

Loken-12 could hear the genuine warmth in Valen's voice as he spoke to Jonas. He knew that Hunters often liked to take trophies from the bodies of their greatest kills. It was a way of proving that they were – as Commander Zavala had once described it to Loken-12 – 'a bigger badass than then the enemy' had been. There was also bragging rights, naturally.

Jonas nodded to Valen, then stooped down and began working the helmet off Zeksis's head. Loken-12 looked over at Sonya, a question in his mind.

"Do you want a souvenir too? I'll stand guard if you break a piece off for me."

"Sure, I'll grab you something. Anything you want in particular?"

"A piece of armour like what Valen's got would be good. Nothing as big though."

Loken-12 turned and started scanning around what remained of the courtyard. During the fight with the Devil walker a few more spotlights had been hit, plunging more areas of the place into darkness. There was still enough light however to see if there was any movement in the shadowy areas. There was none. The rest of the Fallen in the courtyard were either dead or keeping low, probably reeling from the fact that Zeksis was dead. He slowly spun 360 degrees around, watching the shacks until his gaze brought him back to the team. Jonas was stood up by now, admiring the helmet he was holding in his hands. Sonya was just getting to her feet, gripping a couple of bits of armour. Valen was scanning the courtyard like Loken-12 was, auto rifle raised just in case. After a moment he lowered his weapon, then looked back towards the Hunter.

"Jonas, seeing as these two have blocked off the only entrances out of here," he said as he pointed first at Loken-12, and then at Sonya, "we'll need to use your grappling launcher again to get to the roof. I imagine the rest of the prison is on high alert still, so we'll secure the roof and call in our Jumpships. With the anti-aircraft cannons disabled and the Devil Walker destroyed, there should be nothing the Fallen can use to shoot them down now."

Jonas attached Zeksis's helmet to his hip armour, then summoned up his Ghost.

"Ghost, my ride please."

"At once, Guardian."

The S-22 Nomad that Jonas had ridden earlier in the day appeared before them, the grappling hook and launcher still safely attached to the back on the rack just above the engine. Jonas removed both from the rack and dismissed the jet-bike with a wave of his hand, then started towards the east wall, heading for where the Devil Walker's hanger was located. He unfolded the launcher as he walked, fitting the grapple into the muzzle of the gun before adjusting the controls like he had done before. Loken-12 and the others followed in his wake, still keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of fresh attacks coming at them from the shacks ringing the perimeter. For a moment as he glanced back towards where Zeksis lay dead, Loken-12 thought he caught a glimpse of something moving back at the other end of the yard. It was past the debris Zeksis's body lay amongst, near the structure that the Devil Prince had initially appeared from. After a moment though, he saw no further signs of movement, putting it down to the adrenaline that was still pumping through his veins.

He turned back in time to watch Jonas fire the grapple up towards the roof, then heard the electromagnetic head come into contact with the metal panelling. Jonas was first up again, like both times before. This time Valen indicated that Sonya go next, followed by Loken-12. The Exo knew what Valen was doing. As the team leader, Valen felt it was his place to be last out, in order to make sure everyone got out alright. It was a habit he had formed over his time as a Luna Guardsman, honed by two decades of life in the military on the moon. As Loken-12 reach the top of the cable and pulled himself up over the edge, he saw that Jonas and Sonya had positioned themselves to either side of the cable head, each watching in the opposite direction for signs of any hostiles coming their way. If their luck held, the rest of the war-host that had not died along with Zeksis would think that the Guardians were still in the courtyard, as contained as Zeksis was prior to his demise. When Valen made it to the roof, he stopped for a moment, not yet signalling for the team to call in their Jumpships.

"I've been thinking of something ever since before we engaged the Devil Walker. Despite a bumpy start I think we've worked well together. If you three are agreeable, then when we get back to the Tower I am going to ask the Speaker if we can remain a team. I imagine this will not be the last time that the Speaker needs to send someone out on a mission that requires more than what a conventional fireteam has. What do you say?"

Each Guardian was silent for a few moments, Loken-12 imagining that – like him, the others were deep in thought. After few moments more, Jonas stepped forward and extended his hand towards Valen.

"I will admit that at the start I had severe misgivings about the wisdom of what the Speaker laid out for the four of us," he began. Sonya interrupted him, her tone mirthful.

"Yeah, I think we all could tell that from the get-go, Jonas."

Loken-12 heard the Hunter chuckle at this, before he continued on.

"But I have to say, now that I have had a chance to work with you two," he gestured at Valen and Loken-12, "I find that I am agreeable to the idea of doing so again in the future." At this, he grasped Valen's hand in his.

"I saw what you did for me back there. When Zeksis and that golden bastard were putting the pressure on me you bailed me out. I won't forget that. Count me in."

"Me too," said Sonya on the heels of Jonas's sentence. "I've worked with all manner of Guardians over the years, sometimes in a full team or just with one other. I can safely say that the different talents we four possess make this the most efficient team I've worked in. You've got my vote."

Valen turned to Loken-12.

"How about you, old friend?" Valen asked.

The two Titans had worked together for years, sometimes with another Guardian and sometimes just the two of them. Loken-12 knew that what Valen was suggesting was very unorthodox, but as they had proved here tonight, unorthodox… worked.

Loken-12 grinned behind his helmet.

"I'm in, provided we can come up with a good enough name for the team. Any suggestions?"

They all thought silently for a few moments, until Sonya spoke.

"Warden. It's another term for Guardian, and it will help us remember this first mission we had together."

Valen nodded.

"Any objections?"

Loken-12 shook his head, noticing Jonas doing the same.

"Then it's settled then. Fireteam Warden it is."

With that, they summoned their Jumpships, letting their Ghosts steer them down to scope them up with their transporter systems. Then, they headed for home.

At the centre of the prison complex, there was movement. Slowly, as if each step brought with it excruciating pain, a figure emerged. Its footsteps were uneven, as if it was having trouble coordinating its feet properly. The figure's armour was now blackened by fire damage. Here and there were scorch marks, mostly on the upper sections of the armour, but also present around the legs to a degree. On one side the figure held its damaged weapon, the delicate components within it ruined by the same, intense heat that had savaged its master. The creature gripped a long, thin piece of metal in its other hands, leaning on it for support. The cloak on its back had not fared much better. Its original colour was faded now, the edges of its long length burnt and frayed. There was a section of cloth hanging down between its legs, the same colour as the cloak. It too was burned and faded, so much so that at least a whole third of it was now missing. As the figure moved into the light, its face became visible. Burnt as heavily as the rest of it, its left eye was covered by a stripe of cloth torn from the cloak, covering the now-useless orb like an eye patch.

The figure made its way slowly past the metal platform it had stood upon just a few hours before. It did not the strength to jump down like before from the edge of the makeshift stage, so it circled around and continued on its path, heading towards a spot just in front of the debris that littered the central area. It made its way over to the fallen body of its commander, pausing a few times to catch its breath. It knew that its commander's killers were long gone; it had watched from the shadows of the main shack as the defenders of this world had picked at the body. They had taken bits of the Devil Prince's armour before heading off towards the far end of the courtyard. It studied them as they climbed up the cable that had been shot up to the roof, launched up there by the one who had dealt the final, killing blow to the commander. The figure's one remaining good eye burned with hatred as it remembered the four of them reaching the top, remembered them as they summoned their ships and then flew away back to their precious city.

It would not let these Guardians go without punishment. It would hunt them down and make them pay, not just for what they had done to the commander, but what they had also done to itself. For a moment the figure considered how best it would track them, until it realised that it didn't need to. These Guardians were predictable up to a point, at least for him they were. It was he that had known others would come for the body of the first Guardian that had stumbled across their base, he who had advised the commander to set a trap for the others that were sure to follow. They had come as he had predicted.

And then they had died. This last group may have managed to get all the way into the central lair, but they could be killed, just like the others. He vowed to be the one to kill them. He would set a trap, baited with something that could not be ignored. But firstly, he needed a new weapon. He let go of the useless lump of metal that had been his gun, letting it drop to the group with a thud. He took the last few steps needed to take him to the looted body of the Zeksis, reassured to see that what he now needed was still there.

With strained effort and no small amount of pain, the Golden Captain lent down and picked up the plasma cannon lying next to the dead commander's body.


	6. Interlude 1 - A New Guardian Lives

_Author's Note:_

_Sorry about the month-long delay. I was on holiday for two weeks, plus a bunch of other stuff meant that I could not focus on writing as much as I wanted to._

_Please note that in addition to this new chapter, I have now updated the previous five chapters. I've corrected a re-occurring spelling mistake, plus amended a small part of the prologue chapter. My thanks to enji-benjy for pointing out that 'Cosmodrome' is a Russian term that would not be used to describe somewhere in America. I have therefore amended it so that the Prison is now located to the north of Phoenix, Arizona. Also, I have added to the last few paragraphs in chapter three 'Prison Break-In, going into some detail about the nature of Darkness Zones._

_This chapter takes us away from the lead characters and introduces a new character that will become more important as the story unfolds. After this chapter I will be going back to Fireteam Warden, with four planned chapters that cover another mission. After that, a second interlude will follow, then another four-chapter mission. And so-on. My thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story so far: this is my first ever fanfiction, so I was a little nervous about how it would be received. Your reviews have given me the confidence to continue writing this story, which I have already planned out will be roughly 30 chapters in length. Now then, please enjoy the next instalment of _Fireteam Warden.

_A new Guardian awakens to find the world around her changed forever._

Two months later…

The first thing she registered was the heat. Not a burning, painful heat, but a soft warmth that seemed to come from everywhere around her. It reminded her of a time when she had broken her leg whilst out camping with her family, just after she had turned 14 about six years ago. They had gone back to Venus for three weeks, during which time she and her father had gone caving. She had misjudged the stability of one foothold, resulting in a fall that she was lucky hadn't killed her. The surgeons in the medical bay had reset the bone, then bathed the leg in energy, accelerating the healing process by a factor of 50. She did not know enough about medicine to understand how it all worked; all she DID know was that the technology they had used had been developed based on knowledge gained from the Traveler. This heat reminded her of that occasion, only back then it had been focused solely around her leg, in the area of the brake. THIS heat suffused her from head to toe, as if to suggest that her whole body had been smashed.

The next thing she sensed was a humming sound that – like the heat, seemed to surround her completely. It was a low hum, just within range of her hearing. A part of her mind registered the fact that it sounded artificial in nature. No humming bird or any other wildlife could make that kind of sound. There was also what sounded like a voice somewhere above her, but it was muffed as if it was coming from a great distance away. Like the humming sound this voice sounded artificial, and she felt that it was male, judging from the tone and timber it had. It certainly didn't sound like any voice she recognised, but then it was difficult to make it out, which didn't help matters much. She sensed that she was lying down on her left-hand side, upon something hard and unyielding. Definitely not a bed of some kind, as it felt more like the ground than anything else. Her thoughts flew back to that ill-fated camping trip on Venus. They had been roughing it for three days before her accident, so she knew what sleeping on dirt felt like. This felt the same, albeit without any kind of sleeping bag, which just made things worse.

She began to open her eyes, then shut them tightly at once. The light. Too bright. She waited a moment, then slowly opened them again, this time giving herself a chance to adjust. What first caught her gaze was the grass. It was long and green, coming up from the ground that she was lying on. She was lying on a bed of the stuff. The sky up above was a clear blue, with not a trace of clouds in the sky. All this information led her to realize that she was on Earth, which for some reason troubled her, though she could not remember why. The voice that she had been hearing in the background suddenly came in to sharp focus, as if the speaker had been talking through a wall of cushions that had now been yanked aside.

"Guardian, Guardian! Can you hear me? Can you speak?"

The voice was clearly concerned about something, or someone. There was a nervousness in its voice that did not help calm the young woman as she awoke. She was confused too. Guardian? What was that? Who was the voice talking to? Her? Did it think she was a guardsman of some kind? A small wave of dizziness hit her as she started to raise from the ground. She brought up one hand to her head, only to discover that she was wearing a helmet of some kind. And now that she had brought it up near her face, she noticed that her hand was covered in a tanned brown glove that she didn't recognise. She steadied herself with her other hand, rising into a seated position on the ground. She saw that she was completely covered in a strange and unfamiliar uniform, which looked a little militaristic in design, though it certainly not a uniform that she recognised. As she started to move the voice she could hear suddenly seemed to perk up a bit, its tone conveying a sense of cheerful relief, as opposed to the nervousness it had previously had.

"At last! You're awake! I am so glad that you are moving. I was quite worried when you didn't initially awaken following your restoration. I was concerned that the regeneration process had not been completed properly."

She looked up towards the source of the voice, which she could place now as just above her head. A small object hovered above her as she sat there, its large blue eye at the centre being the most dominating aspect of its appearance. Its exterior was made up of a series of eight sections, each one shaped like a small white pyramid, all pointing outwards from the centre. They seemed to shift and move as the object floated above her, possibly indicating that they were linked somehow to its antigravity generator. As she watched, the curious little thing descended down towards her until it came face to face, its full attention apparently directed at her. She glanced around. No, there was just the two of them. With no one else around it was beginning to look like it had been referring to her when it said 'Guardian'. Steeling herself, she looked into its cool-blue eye and spoke.

"Ok, just where exactly am I? And on top of that, just what the hell are you?" She knew she was being a little rude to the thing, but considering the fact that she had woken up in a strange place, wearing strange clothing, with no memory of how she got there, she figured she was owed some answers. Hopefully, the little floating blue eye had some. The hovering eye backed off a little, possibly a little put-off by her outburst.

"Please try to calm yourself, Guardian. To answer your first question, you are currently in what was called the Mojave Desert, in the lower part of California. As for your second question, I am a Ghost. Specifically, I am YOU'RE Ghost. I was created by the Traveler, many centuries ago, along with many others like myself. I have been searching for you for a very long time, Guardian. I'm glad to have finally found you, as I was starting to worry that – "

She cut the hovering eye off in mid-sentence, holding up a hand to stall any objections.

"Wow, slow down. First of all, California? Mojave Desert? That's on Earth, right? I've only been to Earth twice so I don't exactly know the layout of the place. And why do you keep calling me Guardian? If you think I am some sort of Terran Guardsman, I'm sorry but you've made a mistake. I'm not even Earth-born! I was born on Venus, although I didn't spend many years there. But I've never lived on Earth, so there's no way I could ever join the Terran Guard."

She began to stand up, dusting off the dirt from the clothes she was wearing. Which made her think to ask another question.

"And by the way, where the hell are my clothes!? What is this that I'm wearing!?"

"Please calm down, Guardian. I can explain everything. Well, not exactly everything. For one, my databanks can only hold so much knowledge and even if that was not the case, it would take too long to do so, though I could condense everything down if you gave me a few days to –"

"ENOUGH! Just please, answer my questions!" She really didn't want the thing to start reeling off all the known facts of the galaxy, not when more important questions needed answering first.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to babble. I guess I'm just a little excited, that's all. I meant what I said. I have been looking for you for a very long time, and until now I've been on my own. But enough of that. First of all, yes, California is on Earth. It's on the west coast of North America, also known as the U.S.A, one of the major landmasses on the planet. The Mojave Desert is a large area of desert terrain, the majority of which mostly resides in California. You are currently in an area that used to be referred to as the Mojave National Preserve. Secondly, as I said before, I am your Ghost. And you are my Guardian. I was created in the final moments before the Traveler sacrificed itself to protect humanity. I was directed to seek out a being who could serve as one of humanity's protectors, one who could wield the Light of the Traveler as a weapon, now that it can no longer do so. I know this may be very difficult for you to accept or even believe, but you have been dead for several centuries. How long exactly, I do not know. What I DO know is that you're my Guardian, and that it is my responsibility to guide you in your new life, as your Ghost."

She stood there for a few moments, as silent as the vacuum of space. What the thing – the Ghost, was telling her was crazy. Impossible. Dead? For centuries? That couldn't be. How could she have been dead? She was here, alive and breathing. Her mind tried to process the concept, failing at the first hurdle.

"Dead? But that's not possible. How can I be alive and speaking to you if I was dead? I don't even… remember… dying?"

But suddenly… she DID remember. She remembered the explosions all around her. She remembered the screams of the other people as they died. Others she remembered dying silently, unable to even voice their fears of what was happening to them. She remembered her mother, eyes wide and mouth open as she was ripped away from her children by the violence. Her brother's body lying limply next to hers, his head covered in blood where a piece of shrapnel had imbedded itself. Then, the edges of her vision began to dim, the colour seeming to leech out of everything around her. She became cold. Very cold. Then… darkness. Darkness, and silence.

The young woman sank to her knees, the full horror of her death rushing back to her, like an avalanche of pain through her mind. She started to topple forwards, only catching herself by planting both hands down onto the ground below her. The weight of memory bore her downwards, threatening to crush her under its foot. She gasped for breath, remembering how hard it had been to so, just before the end. The tears began to flow as she realised that her family – her parents and little brother, were all dead. Had BEEN dead for centuries, judging from what the Ghost was saying. The sacrifice of the Traveler the Ghost spoke of had not yet happened when she had passed on from the realm of the living. Which meant, she had been laying here on the ground – dead, longer than the Ghost had been searching for her. She wanted to scream. She wanted to wail. She wanted to cry and cry until she could not cry anymore, then cry still. In the end, the only thing she could manage was a whisper. A single word, spoken not in defiance of what she was being told, but grief over all that she had apparently lost, so long ago.

"No…"

She knelt there for what seemed only minutes, but also seemed like hours. The Ghost – her Ghost, she corrected herself – said nothing, probably knowing that there was nothing that it could say that could take away the intense pain she was feeling. At some point she must have slid into a sitting position, though she did not remember doing so. The sorrow had blanked out everything else around her, enveloping her in its cold, uncaring grasp. Finally, she looked up towards the only companion she had right now, in a world that had seemingly changed in the blink of an eye, from her perspective at least. She needed comfort. She needed someone to hold her, to tell her that everything was going to be alright. That this was all just a terrible dream, and that she was going to wake up any moment and her family would be there with her. But, as none of that was likely to happen, she settled for something more simple and direct. Guidance.

"So… what happens now?"

The Ghost floated down near her, almost as if it was trying to console her with its mere proximity.

"I know this must be difficult for you, but we have to get moving. This area is within Fallen territory, plus the terrain is wide open. It is imperative that we seek out a means of reaching the City. It is that last place of safety on Earth, directly beneath the Traveler. At the edge of the city is the Tower, where the Guardians live. That is our final destination. There is no way that we will reach it by foot, though. We will need to find a working Jumpship in order to get there. There is a town about two days walk from here, towards the south-east. It's located just west of where Route 66 intersects with Interstate 40 and appears to be quite large, built around a refuelling station constructed at the highpoint of the Golden Age. The town was used by the traffic on Interstate 40 as a rest-stop and refuelling place, but it also catered to aerospace craft like Jumpships as well. Unfortunately, it is the nearest town in the local area that we are likely to find a Jumpship in, with the nearest city – Bullhead City, being over 50 miles away to the east."

"Ok. Two questions. First, who are the Fallen. And second, why 'unfortunately'?"

"The Fallen are a race of scavengers that serve The Darkness. You could best describe them as 'space pirates', as they are primarily a nomadic race that plunders whatever technology and riches that are left behind when a civilisation dies out. Even though humanity is not quite dead yet, they have established themselves here on Earth, looting whatever they can get their hands on. As to the 'unfortunate' bit, well as I said, this is Fallen territory. As the town is the only one in the area then there is a good chance that the Fallen have already been there, in which case there may be no longer any functional Jumpships there."

The woman slowly got to her feet again, brushing off the dust for the second time as she spoke.

"I take it that these 'Fallen' are hostile towards humans?"

"Lethally."

"I see. So, I don't want to exactly meet any of them right now, seeing as I have no weapons of which to speak of."

She made a show of patting down her sides to emphasize the point, surprised though when she felt the hilt of a knife, sheathed on her hip. She looked down as she pulled it out, examining it carefully. She held it up for the Ghost to see.

"Apart from this, I mean. No guns, something that I imagine they have an abundance of, considering the lifestyle you described them living."

"Indeed. The Fallen have a considerable grasp of technology, and even the lowest of their ranks is capable of using advanced weaponry. Our first priority when we reach the town is to secure a weapon, preferably before we run into any hostiles. I will scan the area as we move, looking for anything that you can use."

She looked around at the terrain surrounding her. Just desert as far as the eye could see, in every direction. She gestured towards the Ghost.

"So then, I guess we'd better get going then. Which way?"

"Let me show you."

The Ghost started to move towards her, then seemingly dissolved right in front of her, like a sugar cube dropped into a bowl full of acid. Before she could say anything though, the Ghost's voice sounded in her helmet.

"It's ok. I'm still here, just interfaced with your suit. Let me bring up a waypoint for you to follow."

With these words, a head-up-display suddenly appeared over her field of view. A small white marker in the form of a diamond appeared in front of her, at about One O'clock from where she was currently looking. She turned to her right a little, until the marker was directly ahead of her. Her Ghost spoke again.

"Follow this objective marker and it will let you straight to the town. I'll tell you more about what you need to know as we head there. It's approaching midday according to my on-board systems, so it's unfortunately going to be the hottest part of the day soon. Even so, we need to keep moving. Any Fallen that see you will attack on sight, and there may be to be patrols around that we will have to avoid. Considering the distance you need to cross, we will have to find a source of food and water. I can sterilize any water we come across, but food is going to be more difficult to acquire. Have you ever gone hunting before?"

The woman shook her head as she started walking towards the objective marker. She had not spent much time in the wilderness, apart from a few camping trips. Her father and brother had always done the hunting during those trips, so it was never necessary for her to hunt herself.

"Nope. Don't suppose you can teach me how?"

"Don't worry, I can direct you on what to do. I don't know if you are squeamish or not, but you will need to kill whatever animals we find out here. My information does not cover the subject on what exactly lives out here, though I am familiar with all the animals that exist or existed on Earth. I'm also sorry to say that I don't know if there is any eatable plants here either. Fortunately, I CAN tell you if something is eatable or not, once I've scanned it."

She laughed dryly at this last statement as she walked.

"You're assuming that I manage to catch anything. I could be completely rubbish at hunting, you know."

"That is highly unlikely. You are a Hunter, so it is in your nature to be able to live off the land. I am confident that you will catch and even kill your next meal. That, I am sure of."

The woman stopped, confused by what her Ghost had just said.

"What do you mean, 'You are a Hunter'? I told you before, I've never needed to hunt in my life. I have no experience on the matter, so I can hardly qualify for being described as one."

"My apologies. You misunderstand what I mean. There are three kinds of Guardian that exist. One kind are known as Titans. They tend to focus on a strong defence as well as the use of heavy weapons, like machine guns and rocket launchers. Then there are the Warlocks. They have learned to harness the Light of the Traveler and wield it against the servants of The Darkness, which they combine with the use of modern-day weaponry. Finally, there are the Hunters. They are the scouts and infiltrators amongst the Guardians. They can use the Light granted to them by the Traveler to survive out in the wilderness, where others could not do so. I have seen a few Hunters over the recent years, alone sometimes or acting as scouts and snipers for other Guardians. This is what I meant when I said you are a Hunter. This is the kind of Guardian you are."

The woman thought about this for a while, standing to walk again as she did so. Eventually, a question loomed up in her mind.

"How exactly do you know that I am a Hunter? I could be a Titan for all I know, or a Warlock. What is it about me that tells you I'm a Hunter?"

"The process I used to restore and revive you automatically selects the clothing and basic weaponry best suited for you. The armour you are currently wearing is what all Hunters start off with when they are first 'reborn'. The knife is a bit of a give-away, too."

"So, that's how I ended up in this. Nice that you finally answered that question. So then, I guess I have only one more question fore you before you start telling me everything else I need to know."

"And that is?"

"What's your name?"

The Ghost didn't answer right away. When it did, there was a note of confusion in its voice.

"I… don't understand. I told you. I am your Ghost. That is who I am."

"No, that's what you are, not who you are. I mean, look at me. I'm a human, but that's not my name. That's not who I am, just what I am. Well?"

"Well, in that case, I guess I don't have a name. It was something that was not considered by the Traveler when I was created. I guess if you want me to have a name, you can give me one if you wish."

"Ok then, I will. It's kind of awkward just calling you 'Ghost' all the time. Though I'll have to think about it for a while. A name isn't something you should just pull out of a hat." She started to wonder about what a good name for her new friend could be, though she couldn't think of anything appropriate there and then. Judging by what her Ghost had said, they were going to be together for a long time.

"Whilst we are on the subject of names, could you tell me yours?"

"Oh, that's easy," the young Guardian said. "It's Cassie. Short for Cassandra actually, but no one calls me… I mean, no one used to call me that. Except for my brother, that is."

"Well then Cassie, I am happy to make your acquaintance. Now then, what topic would you like me to cover first?"

"Not sure to be honest. I've been dead for a long time, so I've a lot to catch up on."

They set off at a walking pace towards the distant waypoint her Ghost had provided for her. Although there was no compass visible on her Head-Up-Display, Cassie knew from what her Ghost had said earlier that they were headed south-east. The terrain was anything but flat, which slowed her progress down more than she would have liked. She wondered if her Ghost had taken the terrain into account when it had given her the two day estimate. The Sun continued to beat down upon her, its heat oppressive and burdensome. As the hours went by it slowly made its way towards the western horizon, which lay behind and to her right. Cassie continued to walk at a steady speed, pacing herself. She couldn't travel in a straight line, which would have been nice; the terrain often caused her to have to deviate around an obstacle, such as a large outcrop of rocks or a vast depression in the ground. This slowed her down more, though she reckoned she was still making good progress.

As they travelled, the Ghost briefed her on the current state of the world, as well as telling her more about being a Guardian, paying particular attention to Hunters. The Ghost explained that each Guardian class had currently two subclasses that they could train in, known as 'Paths' to the Guardians. She learned that once she had enough experience she would be able to start learning the first of the two Paths available to her, the Path of The Gunslinger. As soon as her Ghost told her its name, Cassie couldn't help but imagine an old-fashioned cowboy, wielding a pair of six-shooters like the ones her uncle had possessed in his gun collection. As the little A.I. began to explain about the special ability the Path possessed, she quickly realised that her imagination had not been that far off the mark. The 'Golden Gun' her Ghost described sounded too fantastical to be real. An ethereal revolver, possessing the very power of the sun? Impossible! And yet, the Ghost continued to describe its usage, detailing its strengths and limitations as if it were a real thing. Cassie resolved to try and summon this magical-sounding weapon when the opportunity next presented itself. Though from what the A.I. was telling her it would not be for a while.

After Cassie's Ghost had finished describing the second Path available to her – the Path of The Bladedancer, she decided that out of the two Paths available she preferred the latter. The idea of being able to become invisible, along with the power to change lightning – or 'arc' damage as her Ghost called it, sounded the more fun of the two. She was still coming to terms with having lost her entire family, and Cassie had already vowed to herself to hunt down as many of the Hive as she could and make them pay. The Hive had taken the most important people in her life away, and although she knew that revenge was not considered to be a morally righteous cause, she still felt the need to repay the monsters for what they had done. After her Ghost had told her all it knew about the different Fallen that she was likely to encounter, she had asked it about the Hive, hoping that it would know where she could hunt them down. Its answer however put a damper on her plans.

"According to the latest reports I have, the Hive are still restricted to the Moon, though that could change at some point. Once we get our hands on a Jumpship with a functioning Warp-Drive we will be able to head there and investigate the situation more closely. It would be advisable to remain on Earth to begin with though. The Fallen are much closer to home, having set themselves up all over Earth in order to scavenge what they can."

"So we need to deal with the Fallen first? Dam! Just how many are there?"

"Many thousands, though it's not as if we need to kill them all before going to the moon. Most of our efforts will be focused on disrupting their hold over key locations, places that contain valuable technology that dates back to the Golden Age. Much information has been lost in the intervening centuries, and the recovery of that information is one of the tasks the Guardians are often charged with."

Cassie had remained silent for a while after that, walking onwards towards the horizon line, heading for the waypoint displayed on her HUD. Her Ghost had gone over the Head-Up-Display with her a couple of times, in order to make sure she was familiar enough with it. As she walked she continued to check her motion tracker, trying to get into the habit of keeping at least one eye on it, most of the time. So far, she had yet to see any of the 'directional indicators' that her Ghost had stated would denote the presence of hostiles in the area. Apparently, the tracker could differentiate between friendly, hostile and neutral forces, indicating the first in blue, the second in red, whilst the third wasn't shown at all. That last bit was annoying, as it would have proven useful when tracking any wildlife she was hunting.

After a while, Cassie resolved herself to the fact that she would have to put her hunt for the Hive on hold – at least for a while, and focus on the more immediate threat of the Fallen on Earth. She knew that once she had gotten a few kills under her belt, she would be in a better place to take on what had become her personal nemesis. She wondered if the other Guardians had feelings about the different enemies they fought against, which led her to realise that she knew very little about how she would be received, once she finally got to the Tower. Thinking of the Tower, she asked her Ghost to tell her more about it, as well as the people that were there.

"The Tower serves as the home for all the Guardians, though there are other people who work there besides them. The Tower Hanger for example will be run by a Shipwright, who acts as both a mechanic as well as a seller. They fix and sell vehicles and ships – both new and old that are available. There are also many other staff who help keep the Tower running –"

"Wait a moment," Cassie interrupted. "What do you mean, 'will be run'? You mean 'is run', surely? I mean, when was the last time you were at the Tower?"

Her Ghost seemed to pause for a moment, as if thinking about how to best answer her question. When it did answer, it confirmed what she had first suspected.

"It has been three decades since I last checked in at the Tower. All Ghosts who have yet to find their Guardian are required to periodically return and report on the state of their search, as well as upload any useful information that they have come across in their travels. The data I have on the town ahead of us for example was brought to the Tower by a fellow Ghost some 42 years ago, at which time it reported that there were still 3 working Jumpships stationed there. There were also reports of light Fallen activity near the town provided by the same Ghost, though a later report from a different Ghost indicated that there were signs of increased movement some 12 years ago. That Ghost did not however get near enough to the town in order to determine the status of the Jumpships."

"So, your information about the town itself is over four decades old!? You DO realise that a lot could have changed in that time. All 3 ships may have been taken by now, or taken to pieces by the Fallen. They ARE scavengers!"

The A.I. clearly picked up on the worried tone in her voice, as its next words were spoken in a clam and reassuring manner.

"I know. It's unfortunate, but it's the best led I have, given the data that's available. There is one good piece of news however. The Ghost's report states that the town also has a functioning Comlink Tower, which we could use is all else fails, in order to call for help. The report stated it was fully functional, with no signs that the Fallen were even aware of its purpose."

"So, our backup plan is to send out an S.O.S. and hope someone hears us? Great." Cassie couldn't prevent the sarcasm from bleeding into her voice. The info on the Comlink Tower was just as old as her Ghost's data on the Jumpships. If one could have been lost over the years then so could the other too. She needed to come up with a Plan C, Plans A and B not providing her with much reassurance. Realising that she had gone off-topic, Cassie endeavoured to get back to the matter she had originally asked about, if only to distract her from her current concerns.

"So, back to the Tower. Who else is there?"

"As well as the Shipwright and the people working in the Hanger, there is the Speaker, who speaks on behalf of the Traveler. As well as numerous merchants, there are also representatives from different factions that have a presence at the Tower. When you first arrive you will be reporting to the Vanguard; a trio of Guardians considered to be the best of their respective classes. Cayde-6 was the Vanguard of the Hunters the last time I reported to the tower, 32 years ago. An Exo renowned for his skills with a sniper rifle, he mentors new Hunters when they first arrive at the Tower, and continues to guide them for as long as they wish. The Vanguard provides the wargear used by their respective classes, as well as a few extras here and there."

"And the other factions?"

"Each of the other factions has their own agenda and is represented by someone in the Tower. A faction known as New Monarchy strives to recover and rebuild what was lost during the Collapse. They believe that the future of humanity is tied to the Earth, and that the knowledge recovered from the Golden Age can help restore all that was taken from us."

"I thought that was what all Guardians sought."

"Not all. A faction known as Dead Orbit believes that our future lies beyond the solar system, amongst the stars. They feel that the Guardians destiny is not tied to the Traveler, and so they seek to leave behind Earth in order to settle elsewhere in the galaxy. There is a third faction, one that does not care whether we stay on Earth or leave for the stars, but simply prepares for what they see as the inevitable future for all Guardians: war. Known as the Future War Cult, their tenants dictate that conflict is not only a foregone conclusion, but is in fact necessary. Thus, they provide the means to wage war, regardless of where we eventually end up."

Cassie digested this information silently, wondering how three radically different groups could have sprung up since the Collapse. She found the division amongst the survivors of this era to be offensive. She hoped that there would be no in-fighting amongst the factions, or amongst the Guardians that followed them. She figured things would be difficult enough, what with the Guardians having to fight off the Fallen AND the Hive, plus whatever else was out there seeking to crush them underfoot. She asked her Ghost if there were any other factions besides the ones it had already mentioned.

"There is one final faction, known as The Iron Banner. Led by a Guardian called Lord Saladin, they preside over the Crucible matches that take place. They use these matches to seek out and identify the best fighters from amongst the Guardians, then support them in their battle against the Darkness."

"What is the Crucible?" Cassie asked. Her Ghost had not mentioned it before, so she was curious as to what it entailed.

"The Crucible is a series of arranged matches between the Guardians, who fight one another to prove they are the best there is. As a Guardian's Ghost can revive them from the dead, these matches allow the Guardians to sharpen their skills against one another, without having to worry about being in a Darkness Zone."

"A what?"

"A Darkness Zone. It is an area where the power of the Darkness has grown strong enough to disrupt the Light of the Traveler. In those places, the resurrection powers a Ghost possesses cannot function, so if a Guardian falls in combat whilst inside one, they stay dead."

"Well, I've already died once, and I can tell you from first-hand experience that it isn't anything to write home about. I don't intend to ever go through that again, be it in a Darkness Zone or not."

Cassie could remember her death in vivid, chilling detail, and therefore had no intention of going through that again. Even if she was to know that it would only be temporary, the pain and emptiness it brought was enough to dissuade her from ever taking her life for granted again. She had lived a fairly clean and carefree life until the Darkness had come, along with its minions. As a result, she had never entertained the idea that she would die young. There had been no wars amongst the colonies of mankind for a couple of centuries, so it had never occurred to her that she might die a horrible, violent death at the hands of an invading force. Especially not an alien one. As she made her way down an embankment, her thoughts began to turn to those final days with her family at home, before the Darkness had swept in and wiped away all trace of her former life.

She could remember the frantic voices of her parents when the first signs of attack had come. Her father had been on duty at the time, so when the first enemy ships were detected he had been among those mobilized to mount a defence. Even so, he had taken a few minutes to contact them and let them know what was happening. She and her brother had tried following what their father had been trying to tell their mother over the communications channel, but he had been speaking too quickly for even their mother to completely follow him. The truth soon became all too clear however when the orders to evacuate were issued. What had come next was a brief but frantic period where their mother started gathering up supplies from around their home, telling her children to do the same. She told them to only pack essentials, a few changes of clothes, their IDs and com-links, as well as the food their mother packed. Cassie and her brother had been too stunned over what was happening to fully understand what was going on, but as they quickly packed and headed out the door after their mother, they could see that the same was happening everywhere around them. Whole families, workers and even a few off-duty guardsmen were hastily gathering up everything that was essential and evacuating.

Some people had taken longer than others, foolishly trying to pack unnecessary items of comfort, like books, vids and expensive jewellery. One young man she spied had even taken the time to pack up his games console and was lugging it along on his back in a carry-bag. She could understand why he had done it. If he was one of those game-freaks who lived through their consoles then losing it would be like losing your friend. Still, he should have realised that between the console and his life, the latter was the one that could not be replaced. _Unless you happen to become a Guardian, that is,"_ she thought bitterly. She was admittedly not the most religiously devote, but even so she liked to believe that when you died, the most important part of you went some place where it could join those nearest and dearest to you. Cassie couldn't remember any shinning white lights, trumpeting horns or halo-bearing beings between her death and rebirth though. No familiar faces of her family or friends welcoming her with open arms. No one. Nothing. Just… darkness and the cold.

Cassie resigned herself to the fact that as far as she knew based upon the known evidence, there was no afterlife, no reincarnation. At least, not that she had experienced. Perhaps because she was going to come back to life, she might not have been 'admitted' to heaven, she joked silently to herself. _"Do not pass go, do not ascend into the heavenly here-after, go straight back to the living,"_ she thought, remembering her brother asking their mother about whether he could bring his game pack with him. It was only a small thing, able to store and project hundreds of different board games via its holographic-projector. Their mother had said no however, as it would take up room in his pack better served by storing food and water. The essentials for survival. Her father had drilled into both his children the importance of the essentials for survival, back when they were just twelve years old. Being a solider, he had learned all about survival out in the wild, living off the terrain until one could make it back to civilisation. True, he'd needed the training just in case he was ever trapped behind enemy lines, but the lessons were certainly useful to their family during the evacuation.

"_Like I am trapped behind enemy lines right now. Dad would have taken all this in his stride. He wouldn't have let the circumstances get to him. He would have pushed all those difficult thoughts and feelings down inside himself, until the time was right to go through them. He would have made a far better Guardian then me."_ Thinking about her father, Cassie resolved to do her best to survive in this new galaxy she had found herself in, to make him proud.

As night fell, her Ghost began searching for a good place for her to stop and sleep. She had rested a couple of times over the last few hours, having covered a third of the way to the town. It was definitely going to take at least three days to get there, more if she hit any unexpected holdups. Her Ghost had led her earlier to a small waterhole that she had drank from, once the little A.I. had sterilized it. It had also materialised a couple of water flasks – empty, which she had taken and filled to the top with the now-drinkable water in the hole. At least she wasn't going to die of thirst, although she was a little worried about dying of hunger. The Ghost reassured her that the Light within her would keep her going long enough for her to reach the Tower, though it admitted that it wouldn't hurt to find a source of protein somewhere.

She made camp in the shadow of a large rock the size of a two-story house, using its shadow to help conceal her presence. Ok, 'make camp' was stretching things a bit. She just sat down to rest, then laid down when she was ready to sleep. The Ghost told her it would act as a lookout, alerting her if anything happened. Cassie dreamed that first night of her new life, though the dream quickly turned into a nightmare. Reliving the last moments she had with her family caused her to wake with a start more than once during the night, a cold sweat covering her all over. She had tried getting back to sleep, but only two hours later – according to her Ghost, she bolted upright again, a scream on the tip of her tongue. She held it in, half concerned that anything out here that was hostile might hear her, but mostly in order to keep the promise she had made earlier, about making her farther proud. She managed to get back to sleep again, getting another four hours in before she woke in the morning. She bid her Ghost 'good morning', went to relieve herself behind a rock, then signalled that she was ready to get underway.

About an hour later, she saw breakfast. Well, she saw what was going to _become_ breakfast, once she had caught it. It was a rabbit – a black-tailed jackrabbit according to her Ghost. It had just popped up out of its burrow ahead of her, its nose twitching as it took in the morning scents. Cassie was downwind from the creature, plus it hadn't looked in her direction yet. She lowered herself down behind a sandbank just to her right, watching for any sign that it had sensed her presence. The rabbit took a couple of hops outwards from its burrow, still searching from any threats. Cassie spoke quietly to her Ghost, keen not to alert the little fur-ball.

"Ok, Ghost. Tell me again how this works?" Her Ghost had told her that the Light of the Traveler could be focused through her, forming it into an attack that could stun and potentially kill small animals. It had said that the method was similar to the way a Hunter channelled the Light through them when they struck out at an enemy physically, though not as strong. Her Ghost went over the instructions again with her, then indicated that she should approach from behind the target, in order to maximise her chances of catching it unawares. She slowly began to flank round behind the rabbit, then she started closing the distance. As she did so, her mind went back to the Ghost's other teachings, specifically the ones focusing on the use of stealth. Picking her way carefully, she got within range, extending her hand outwards to point at the animal. She took a few slow breaths, trying to get the jackhammer that her heart was beating like under control. Then, she let the power flow through her hand and out towards the tiny creature.

The energy hit the rabbit square in the back of the head, killing it before it even had time to register that it was under attack. It collapsed onto its side as Cassie let out a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding. She walked out towards her catch, a feeling of success sweeping through her. As she knelt down and scooped up the dead animal, her Ghost spoke.

"Well done. And on your first try too. You're a nature at this, just like I figured. Now all you have to do is skin it, cook it and then eat it. As you said that you've never been hunting before, I suspect you would be unlikely to have any experience doing at least the first of those three things. Fortunately, I can guide you."

"Thanks. I have to say, it was a bit nerve-racking there for a moment, right before I made my shot. Still, I imagine it will get easier the more times I do it. Oh, I just thought of something. Can you tell if this critter has any diseases or anything else I should be worried about? I don't want my first meal of my new life to come back to haunt me."

"You needn't worry about it. I already scanned the rabbit and it appears to be in the best of health, otherwise I would have alerted you to it before you attacked. In any event, I can eradicate any harmful bacteria within an animal's body, be it alive or dead. In fact, I am capable of doing the same for you, should you contract something that would impede you in your duties as a Guardian."

"You mean if I get sick, you can make me all better? Nice! I've only gotten seriously ill once in my live, when I was about nine. Although I've had my fair share of stomach bugs over the years, that particular time was the worst. I'm glad that's one thing I wouldn't have to worry about going through again."

Cassie stood up with rabbit in hand as she looked towards the direction she had been heading, prior to spotting the animal. As far as she could see, there wasn't any place where she could settle down to skin and cook her breakfast directly ahead of her, although there was some rocks that looked like they would provide some shelter, off to her left. She asked her Ghost if that was the best place to eat.

"I do believe it is. There are a number of small stones that you can use to create the basis of a campfire there, plus I am detecting a pair of trees on the other side. A few twigs should be enough to use as fuel, although I could manufacture some flammable materials to use if you prefer."

"No, twigs will do fine. I know how to make a campfire, easily. My family and I went camping a few times when we went back to Venus. I helped my mother collect some branches and stones to build an old-fashioned campfire, whilst my father and brother went out looking for dinner." Cassie stopped talking as she realised that this was the first time she had actually mentioned out loud her family to the Ghost. They had been on her mind ever since she had learned she had been dead, but she had never actually spoken about them to the A.I. before now. _"Perhaps because it was still too difficult to voice until now,"_ she reasoned. She knew that she would have to talk about them eventually, she had seen what bottling things up inside you could do. Her father had once taken her and her brother on a tour around the base where he was stationed at, about two years before the attack. She had happened to arrive just as a fellow guardsman of her father's had lost it and drawn his weapon, threatening to shoot anyone who tried to take his personal Com-pad away.

It was a civilian model, not authorised to be brought along whilst on active duty because they posed a security risk. Anything could be loaded on to the little computer, then transmitted wirelessly to any main computer on the base. It had emerged later-on that his fiancé had died about two months beforehand, a victim of a robbery gone wrong. The guardsman hadn't told anyone, keeping the pain of loss and despair all inside, where they'd eaten away at him like acid. The Com-pad had contained the last message his fiancé had sent him, just hours before she had been killed, along with a host of photos of the two of them together. He had kept it close to him in order to keep his memory of her alive, but a commanding officer had spotted it and tried to confiscate it, leading to the confrontation. The guardsman had eventually been talked down by Cassie's father, along with some of the others in the unit. It had left a strong impression on Cassie about the need for someone to be there for you, when you were down at your lowest point in life. Her Ghost regained her attention, asking about her previous statement.

"When you say 'back to Venus', then that implies that you had been there before, right?"

"Yes, I have. In fact, both my brother and I were born on Venus, though I only spent the first five years of my life living there. We later moved off-world so that we could be closer to my father, at the base where he was stationed. He was in the military and had met my mother whilst he was on leave on Venus. My parents fell in love and got married the next year, shortly before my mother discovered she was pregnant with me. I was born about eight months after that, then two years later my brother was born."

"What was your brother's name?"

"Kyle. His name was Kyle. You see, our mother had a younger brother called Kyle, but he had died when he was about nineteen, four years before I was born. He worked as a building surveyor and there was an accident. Two other people died, as well as another who was hurt. Mum never went into details. 'Too painful to discuss', she'd say."

Cassie had made it to the rocks by this point, from which she could just see the trees. She looked down at the ground, spotting a number of decently-sized stones to build a fire ring to contain the campfire in. She set the rabbit down and began to collect the stones, marking out a circle in which she could build the fire in. She then headed for the trees, searching their bases first for any fallen branches she could use. She found a few, though not quite enough to build a decent fire with, so she drew her Hunter's Knife and cut a couple more branches down. Bringing them to the fire ring, she piled the timber in the middle, then – using the Light as directed by her Ghost, she set it on fire. Whilst the fire got going, she turned her attention to the task she was least looking forward to: skinning the Rabbit.

After breakfast, Cassie rested for a few minutes to let her meal go down, taking in the view from where she sat. There was mostly sand as far as the eye could see, punctuated by the odd rocky outcropping like the one she was currently in the shade of. The horizon line before her showed no sign of the town she was heading towards, though the town's location was still marked by the waypoint that her Ghost had created the previous day. Apart from that, the only other thing in view was the sky itself, which was blue and clear of any clouds. She found that oddly comforting, despite the fact that she had only seen the Terran sky twice before, when she had visited the world that was referred to by many as 'the cradle of humanity'. _"USED to refer,"_ she chided herself. For all she knew, that term had not been used in centuries, though she felt the description of Earth was still as accurate as ever. The people in the Last City where a mystery to her, having grown up in a totally different time period to her. The Ghost had given her a few basic facts about the city, but had focused more on the Tower and the Guardians that lived there.

A sudden movement caught her eye. It was a bird of some kind, flying high in the sky overhead. It looked to be a bird of prey, though she couldn't identify it. Cassie had studied a number of wild animals in biology class, though this was the first time she had actually seen a flying creature. Her Ghost evidently noticed her interest. It materialised in front of her, looking upwards towards the soaring creature.

"A Golden Eagle, a big one at that. They are birds of prey, meaning that they feed upon a variety of small animals, including hares and rabbits. It's quite possible that we just stole his lunch from him, or rather, you stole it."

Cassie laughed out loud. She had started to notice that her Ghost had a sense of humor, judging from some of the comments that it – or he, had made. She guessed he was trying to lighten her mood a little, possibly having noticed how quiet she was. Looking over at the smoldering remains of the fire, she suddenly wondered if the eagle had seen the smoke and wondered what it was. It was doubtful that another human had been here recently, and even less likely one who would have set a fire burning. The little column of smoke therefore was probably something new and interesting. She decided to join in on the joke, at least enough to get one back at her hovering companion.

"More likely he was just trying to figure out if the floating white object with me was a tasty enough snack to make a meal out of. He was probably scared off though because I'm here."

"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny. I suppose if he had decided to try it you would have jumped up to defend me right?"

Cassie smiled.

"Of course I would have. After all that's the meaning of being a Guardian. To guard, to defend. To protect." She started to rise from her seated position, brushing off the dirt as she got up.

"In all honestly though, I was thinking that he was most likely checking out the fire. I bet he hasn't seen anything like it out here before, or the smoke it produced. I mean, I bet he saw it from afar, way up there."

Her Ghost was suddenly very still, as if frozen in time. He said nothing as he just floated there. Then, he turned slowly towards her, the sections that made up his exterior shifting away from his one, blue eye, as if they were DESPERATE to get away from it. It gave Cassie the impression that the Ghost was looking 'eyes-wide' at her, almost conferring a look of… what exactly? Surprise? Shock? Fear? She was about to ask what was wrong when the A.I. spoke, its voice loaded with panic.

"You wouldn't have to be' way up there' to see the smoke. It must be visible for miles, which means that if there are any Fallen in the area then they'll notice it too. They will come and investigate! We need to get moving! If the Fallen realize that there's lone, unarmed Guardian out here then they will descend upon us like a pack of wolves. We have to go, now!"

Cassie glanced around her, imagining a horde of enemies surrounding them, weapons firing. Without any further prompting she jumped to her feet and took off towards the waypoint, running as fast as she was able to.


End file.
